


The Light Unveils the Truth

by RoLo_Renegade



Series: CADMUS Ascending [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Aliens, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, CatCo Worldwide Media, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Flashbacks, Medical Experimentation, Medical Trauma, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Project Cadmus, The DEO | Department of Extra-Normal Operations, supercat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-03-20 09:46:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 89,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18990190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoLo_Renegade/pseuds/RoLo_Renegade
Summary: What CADMUS has started, it's time for our heroes to end. Kara, Cat, Alex, and Maggie prep for the battle of their lives as they struggle to come to terms with what Dr. Luthor has already done—and what she plans to do next.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that while I still promise that this section of CADMUS Ascending won't be anywhere near as horrific for our heroes as the last section, we left them all in a dark enough place that it's going to take a bit of time to pull them back up into the light. But it's going to happen.

_Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness._

—Desmond Tutu

  

Energy crackled through the air, blue-white arcs running along the Black Hawk’s frame and surging outward from blades spinning in increasingly faster circles. As the agents around them dispersed to the other choppers prepping for flight, the group gathering to board the lead Hawk stood their ground—waiting.

It was finally Maggie who moved close enough she could feel the charge in the air straightening the hairs on her arms. Unfazed, she stared up at the unexpected light show and stated, “It’s the fastest way to get us all there together.”

“I fucking know that.”

The detective refused to react to the sharp hiss of the response her comment earned. Instead, she nodded slowly while casting her gaze askance toward her companion. “You don’t have to get into the chopper, Leslie. Stay here until we’re closer and then come join us the way you prefer to travel.”

The shock jock made a dismissive sound, but Maggie caught the inquisitive tilt of her head. “You really think they’re going to trust me to do that?”

“I trust you.”

The three words noticeably shook Leslie, her head swiveling quickly in the detective’s direction. When Maggie met the DJ’s stunned glare, she could see the disbelief she expected. More importantly, though, she could see the longing to place faith in Maggie’s words and to believe in the faith the detective was offering her so readily.

With a decidedly tempered tone, she grumbled, “Yeah, well, you’re not running the show.”

Accepting Leslie’s barely audible comment as invitation, J’onn stepped forward, morphing into his true form as he did. “We can go ahead together, Ms. Willis.”

The DJ looked toward the approaching form, her eyes widening uncontrollably as her head tilted back, back, back to take in the sight towering before her.

The Martian continued in his uniquely layered voice, “I will need to ride along for part of the journey, but if you can endure that much in the chopper, we can depart early to execute preemptive maneuvers.”

He waited patiently for her to respond, reaching out to sift through her immediate thoughts and emotions. Her fear of climbing into the helicopter only barely outmatched the frustration she felt at that terror—at being so easily controlled by her reaction to what happened to her.

Beneath those responses, however, J’onn could sense a surprising determination to be a part of their mission. Less surprising was the devotion he could sense driving her need.

“Fine,” she growled after several tense beats. “Let’s get this shit show started.”

Stepping to the side, she gestured for the group behind her to move forward. “You all first, though. I’m sitting by door.”

As the others hurried to climb into the Black Hawk, the shock jock gulped down several deep breaths. Maggie caught the moment she drew herself up, marching to the helicopter and hopping up into the vacant spot beside the detective.

Refusing the make the moment more uncomfortable for the DJ, Maggie simply held out one of the chopper’s headsets and motioned to her own helmet intercom.

The DJ belted herself in with a clumsy quickness, forcing herself to ignore the memories of the last time she’d strapped herself into a helicopter. She then grabbed the headset and snapped it over her ears with a slightly pained flinch.

“Thanks,” she breathed as she adjusted the mic. The detective gave a responding nod before focusing on the sound of J’onn’s voice now filtering through all headsets on all choppers launching in succession from HQ.

“We’re going in fast and hot, people,” he barked, his multilayered voice rumbling low and fierce in his chest. “The priority of this mission is rescue. We have intel that our missing operatives and Pink Panther are being held in the facility we’re raiding. Same intel indicates Dr. Luthor has injected Pink Panther with some kind of tech that has left her seriously injured and in need of emergency medical care.”

He studied the shock jock from his position across from her. “I trust this intel completely, which means we’re on a short countdown. It also means a medic with every strike team. You get in, secure your position as you move, locate and rescue the targets, and get out. If you encounter any members of CADMUS, you are authorized to use non-lethal force only to incapacitate and capture them.”

Having kept his focus on Leslie the whole time he spoke, he caught the immediate way she stiffened at his last order. “Prisoners are more useful to us than cadavers,” he continued, hoping it would placate whatever fight the DJ was prepping to launch in response.

Clearly not completely satisfied, she slammed back in her seat, arms crossing tightly in front of her. J’onn sensed the rush of fury churning like rapids within her thoughts. However, he sighed gratefully at her continued though tenuous silence.

“Director, Desert Containment Hawks are joining our squadron.”

The announcement from their pilot snapped him back into focus. “Understood. Initiate flight formation Lambda Five Nine.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Martian went silent as he listened to the pilots confirm his orders before stating, “Secure the comm line to this chopper and connect to Tech One.”

As soon as he heard the shift in sound through the line, he called, “Tech One, how are your scans coming?”

The clack and clatter of keys sang in the background as Winn replied, “Now that we know the location of the CADMUS outpost, I was able to narrow the focus of our satellite scans down from a broad sweep and boost its output enough to get through the jamming frequency. I’ve pinpointed two entrances: one located on an east-facing ridge that looks like it will only be accessible via airdrop, and a larger entrance on the west side, accessible via the road we found. I’ve sent coordinates of both locations to the squadron.”

“What about power sources we might be able to take out?”

“The jamming frequency is still playing havoc with our thermal imaging, plus there’s a lot of distortion coming from the natural metals in the mountain rock. However, I think I’ve located what looks like a main generator near the road-accessible entrance. You should be able to pinpoint it on handheld scanner once inside. It also looks like there might be a smaller backup power source closer to the other entrance, but its readings are much lower, so I can’t be certain.”

Taking a shaky breath, he added, “I’m also picking up a ridiculous amount of lead in my scans.”

Maggie caught the confused furrow across Leslie’s forehead at the way everyone seemed unnerved by the tech agent’s final statement. Before the DJ could come up with any questions, J’onn asked, “Ms. Willis, do you think you can get back inside the way you left and take out the main generator?”

To everyone’s surprise, Leslie shook her head. “There’s something—something funky about that place’s energy. I don’t know what it is, but it felt dangerous to me. I had to leave the grid after I got too close to whatever they’ve done to their main power supply.”

She huffed a mirthless bit of laughter, her gaze dropping to stare at her fingers now digging painfully into her upper thighs. “Cat was right to tell me not to stick around there.”

Disappointed by the shock jock’s revelation, J’onn nodded while contemplating next moves. “I’m sure Dr. Luthor took several precautions to prevent you from escaping. I’ll enter the facility closest to the primary power source and see if I can disable it.”

Sensing a rebuttal rising within the shock jock, J’onn shook his head. “Ms. Willis, I know you want to help, but I don’t want to risk anything happening to you by sending you after either of the power generators. We all go in and we all come out. I’m not losing any of my team on this mission.”

Leslie shifted in her seat, her discomfort at the unexpected sentiment clear in her rigid posture. Lucy leaned closer until she could catch the DJ’s dark glare. “I’m going to be leading the agents coming in through the east entrance. I’ll need you to open the door to get us inside. As soon as we’re in, I want you on my team.”

With a less than convincing huff, the DJ shrugged and mumbled, “Go, team.”

J’onn let out a low rumble of sound in response before asking, “Anything else you can tell us about our destination, Tech One?”

“I’m not detecting any major fire power associated with the outpost. It seems like they were pretty certain in the protection of their camouflage—which, to be fair, is tight. Because the area is still under the jamming frequency, though, I have no way of doing a reliable long-range scan. So if they’re prot…y drones or firepo…side my focu….”

The static hiss of a now-failed connection filled all their headsets, signaling they had passed into the range of the jamming frequency. Muttering a soft curse in his native tongue, the Martian switched to the internal channel and called to the pilot, “Are instruments still working?”

After a brief hesitation, he responded, “Yes, sir. Instruments all remain fine. Seems only external communications are affected.”

“Keep us in formation, then, and follow Tech One’s coordinates.”

“Yes, sir.”

At the confirmation, J’onn turned to the occupant of the seat across from him. “How are you, Agent Sommers? Any complications we should know about?”

Activating her internal diagnostic software, Jaime tested her vision and hearing before flexing her fingers and jiggling both legs quickly. Everyone in the chopper felt the machine jostle in time with the force and speed of her final movements. “All systems functioning, Director.”

J’onn caught the confused gapes coming from Maggie and Leslie, but refrained from explanation out of deference to the Secretary. Instead, he called to the pilot, “ETA?”

“Five minutes, sir.”

Hearing the reply, he phased his body through the seat restraints so he was free. “Ready to go, Ms. Willis?”

The DJ jolted forward in her seat, fingers swiftly unlatching her own harness. “More than ready.”

Before Leslie could shift out of her physical form, J’onn held out a steadying hand toward her. “Remember, Ms. Willis: Stay away from whatever tainted electricity you sensed, wait for my agents to join you, open the east entrance, and use only non-lethal force to stop any CADMUS agents who might attempt to stop you.”

A stubborn darkness hung silently between them before Leslie finally gave an exaggerated curse, lightning crackling in the sound. “Whatever. Can we just go already?”

At even the hint of the Martian’s nod, Leslie tossed down her headset. She lunged forward, diving from the Black Hawk with arms outstretched before sparking and sizzling into a live stream of electricity, carried downward along the conduction current in the atmosphere. Maggie couldn’t stop watching the shimmering arc of silver light as it scorched a path downward, fully aware her jaw hung agape in surprise but not feeling particularly inclined to close it.

Finally leaning back into her seat, she caught the Martian observing her before he shifted his attention to the major. “If I can get a signal through our communications, I will let you know when I take out the main power generator. Otherwise, go on Leslie’s opening of the east-facing entrance. Spread out and move through the facility toward the center. My teams will do the same from the west.”

“Understood, sir.”

Crimson irises scanned the remainder of Lane’s team before J’onn completely phased from sight through the floor of the chopper. A second later, they watched as he streaked across the sky toward the coordinates Winn had provided.

“All right,” Lucy called into her helmet’s headset, “we’ve got this. Sommers, Sawyer, time to hook up your lines. We all can’t have the dramatic exits of a Martian or a bolt of electricity, but we can at least have safe ones.”

Snorting at the major’s tease, Jaime reached up and attached her hookup to the main line and began checking her drop bag, her years of OSI training immediately taking over her movements. Lucy next turned to Maggie. Nerves twitched the corners of the detective’s eyes, but she did her best to keep a steady expression.

The major picked up the rappel line already attached to the full body harness she’d suited Maggie into along with her tactical gear. “You’re going to go after me, okay, Detective? I’m going to rappel down so I can help guide you in to the ledge. Sommers is going to run your line for you. All I’m going to need you to do is sit down at the door so your legs swing out of the chopper, and then pivot so the balls of your feet are on the skid and you’re facing inside the Hawk with your legs shoulder-width apart and your knees locked.”

She paused, gauging the rapid dilation of Maggie’s pupils. “Even if you slip while pivoting, you’ll be safe, I promise. Just watch me and copy those moves to position yourself when it’s your turn.”

She pointed to the brake bar rack through which Maggie’s line looped several times. “This is going to help Jaime control the speed of your decent. We’re going to lock it in on a carabiner here and drop you down. You just hold on to wherever you feel most comfortable keeping your hands and Jaime will do the rest for you.”

Maggie tried her best to look certain, even as she felt tremors all the way down in her boots and a panic settling like concrete in her gut. None of it mattered, though. Nothing was stopping her from dropping down that line.

When Lucy finished tethering her stay line, she lifted the brake bar rack from Maggie’s line and slipped it onto a carabiner. A few strong tugs confirmed for both the major and Maggie it was securely fastened.

Swiveling to look toward the pilot, she stated while checking her own drop bag, “Once we drop and disengage, pull back to allow the next Hawk access to the drop zone, but don’t lose sight of our entry point. When we locate our missing team, we might bring them back out the way we came in. You’ll need to drop back down so we can load up for transport.”

“Yes, Major.” An indicator alarm from his instrument panel drew his attention. “We are approaching drop range.”

The pilot’s announcement drew three sets of eyes toward the mountainside that now loomed before them. Three sighs of relief quickly followed at the sight of the shock jock waiting for them outside the eastern entrance. A narrow ledge jutted outward along the length of the entrance, over an unsettling drop downward into a rocky chasm.

Maggie felt like cotton lined her mouth as she struggled not to dwell on the size of the narrow ledge—or the discomfiting truth of what lay beneath it.

Lucy gripped the detective’s shoulder to draw her attention. “Breathe, Sawyer. You got this.”

She squeezed Maggie’s shoulder once before moving to the open door. Tossing out her line, she checked its landing on the ledge below. From the shadow of the doorway, she saw Leslie shift toward the rope, looking up inquisitively.

The major held up a hand, hoping the DJ would understand and stop. Dropping down to a seated position, she steadied her feet against the landing skid and smoothly pivoted until she was facing back toward the interior. Adjusting her rappel ring and positioning her grip on her line, with her guide hand above her and her brake hand against the small of her back, she looked up at Jaime and Maggie. “See you down there!”

Her knees flexed as she did her countdown, drawing her in toward the chopper, before shoving backward and propelling her out and away from the Black Hawk. Maggie was certain she stopped breathing the entire time she watched as the major guided herself swiftly and smoothly downward.

When Lucy’s boots hit the ledge, she quickly unhooked herself from her line, signaling she was clear.

With a quavering breath, Maggie took position at the open door, legs dangling out of the chopper. She grabbed hold of her line to steady herself and stepped down on the landing skid. Leg muscles trembling, she carefully pivoted until she was in the same stance Lucy had taken.

When she looked up, she saw Jaime was already in position by her line. The sight released some of the tension tightening her muscles and she laughed slightly. Catching Jaime’s studious gaze, she called, “When we have some time, you’re going to have to explain to me how the Secretary of Education knows her way around a rescue operation so well.”

To her surprise, Jaime winked while taking Maggie’s line in her right hand. “You’re on, Detective.”

Once she was satisfied with one final line check, Jaime met the detective’s tellingly bright gaze. “On ‘Go,’ push off and I’ll take care of the rest.” With Maggie’s nod, Jaime calmly counted down, giving a reassuring smile as she gave the detective the signal.

Just as Lucy had done, Maggie pushed away from the landing skid, her hands instantly rising to grab onto the shoulder straps of her harness. Fighting the pressing urge to close her eyes, she instead watched Jaime work the brake bar rack for a moment before she switched her attention down toward Lucy.

Surprisingly, the ledge approached her faster than she assumed it would. Seeing Lucy and Leslie step out of the shadows in-sync, she reached out her hands instinctively. Both caught her easily, allowing her to steady herself the moment her boots touched gravel.

While the detective reoriented herself, Lucy unlatched her from the line and released it to swing away. She then gestured toward the hovering copter, giving Jaime the signal to go. As soon as Maggie saw the final drop line appear to her left, she jumped at the sudden and unnervingly hard impact of Jaime’s boots beside her. Eyes wide with shock, she looked up from the fresh divots made by Jaime’s landing, into a far too innocent expression.

Shrugging, the Secretary sighed, “Guess I got an extra-fast line.”

“That was seriously fucking cool.”

Maggie tilted her head toward the shock jock, who watched Jaime with what the detective could only describe as awe.

Jaime laughed as she positioned herself to catch the first drop line from the Hawk now moving into range as their pilot backed off to a holding pattern. “Not nearly as cool as your landing, I’m sure, but it’ll do.”

The next chopper quickly offloaded its full complement of agents before swinging off to hold position as well. Lucy scanned the ready troops. “Okay, Paulson, Connor, you’ll run Teams Blue-Beta and Blue-Gamma.” She pointed to one of the medics. “Murphy, you’re with me on Blue-Alpha. We’re running a full sweep inward until we meet up with Green teams. Leave no part of this place untouched.”

Looking to the DJ, she motioned toward the doorway. “Looks like it’s time for us to get Live and Wired with Leslie Willis.”

Dark eyes rolled in reply before filling with the blue-white brilliance of power surging in response to Leslie’s command. The teams watched with collective wonder as the DJ uncoiled from her human form into tendrils of energy that snapped and sparked before undulating upward into the door’s operating panel.

The ensuing stillness unnerved them all. Several agents noticeably jolted at the sudden clank of the metal barrier retreating sideways into the mountainside.

Taking point, Lucy lifted her M4 from its rifle sling and led the way into the outpost. As the other DEO agents, Jaime, and Maggie followed in single-file entry behind her, they caught sight of Leslie slipping from the door’s operating panel and reconstituting herself into human form.

The lights throughout the section they occupied flickered into darkness, replaced quickly by the amber glow of emergency lighting. Just as quickly, Lucy heard her helmet headset crackle with additional input. “Blue Team Leader, I repeat, can you read me?”

“Blue Team Leader here, Green Team Leader. All Blue teams are inside and ready to deploy. Thanks for the mood lighting. Does this mean comms are unjammed?”

“That’s an affirmative.” Winn’s voice through her line had never sounded more welcome. “Tech One is once more monitoring the scene. I’m scanning the outpost more thoroughly now. It’s going to take a little time to complete, but I can tell you now, Blue Team, there is a detectable source of nth metal very close to your position.”

“How close and what direction, Tech One?”

“Looks like a good fifty yards up the corridor you’re currently on, and then to the west of where you’re standing. I would recommend taking the first door you find on your left and seeing if that leads you in the right direction.”

The line crackled briefly before Winn continued, “The mountain distortion is still messing with my attempts to focus thermal scans, but I’m picking up a cluster of heat signatures moving away from your location, in a northeastern direction. However, be aware there looks like a smaller heat signature cluster somewhere near the vicinity of the nth metal reading.”

He paused for a moment before adding, “I also just got fresh pings from Pink Panther’s and Agent Danvers’s trackers. Pink Panther is among the nth metal readings. Agent Danvers is near the smaller thermal cluster I’m detecting.”

“Copy, Tech One. Blue teams are on the move. See you in the middle, Green Team Leader.”

Hearing J’onn’s confirmation, Lucy once more raised her weapon into position as she led her teams down the corridor from the entrance. She felt the crackle of Leslie’s energy in the air as the DJ stepped into position behind her.

After making short work of moving deeper into the facility, Lucy caught sight of a corridor junction, complete with a security door locked by biometric scanner to their left. As she began to ask Leslie if this was something she might be able to override, her comm link to HQ snapped to life.

“Blue Team Leader, hold your position.”

Startled by Winn’s order, Lucy halted quickly, giving the hold signal to the others. “What is it, Tech One?”

“That smaller heat signature cluster has broken up and part of it is heading toward your position.”

“How close?”

“Coming in fast from almost due west of your position. Should be there in less than a minute.”

Lucy glanced back at the line of agents behind her. “All right, teams, spread out and take flanking positions along the eastern wall. We’ve got unknowns approaching our position from the direction we need to go.”

Immediately, the other teams moved into place, weapons trained in anticipation.

Lucy watched peripherally as Jaime and Maggie settled in to her left while Leslie moved back from the front line. The DJ had refused the offer of even a small caliber gun. Instead, Lucy could feel the electricity in the air shift and spark around her as Leslie began to power up her own unique weaponry.

“Blue teams, take aim. Arrival is imminent.”

At Winn’s warning, the agents settled into their tactical positions, all weapons and eyes trained on the door before them. As the locking mechanism released and the metal barrier shifted out of the way, Lucy watched a hulking form emerge from the amber-tinged darkness.

Twin blue beams quickly sliced through the air in an arcing path, the cries of several agents nearly drowned out by the responding report of gunfire. Even as Lucy added to the spray of bullets sparking light and sound throughout the outpost, she realized their weapons weren’t going to stop this particular target.

Henshaw continued to fire his laser vision across the line of agents, bullets doing nothing more than stripping away bits of synthetic flesh from his endoskeleton. With quick reflexes, Lucy dropped down to her stomach as Henshaw’s laser vision swept closer, reaching up to drag Maggie down with her. When she looked back up, she realized Leslie was now once more electricity in motion, scarring the darkness with the sharp zigzag of her energy.

The shock jock’s strike against the cyborg hit him directly in his chest, blowing him back into the corridor from which he’d emerged with the impact of her charge. The agents could see her continue to spiral bright arcs of electricity around his form as she attempted to disable him completely.

After several seconds, the arcs slipped away, converging once more into human form a few steps from the now-open entrance. The agents watched in wary anticipation as Henshaw continued to lie prostrate on the ground, the glow in his eyes slowly dimming.

To the right of the entrance, a silhouette shifted out of the doorway’s shadow before the fresh silence of the junction once more shattered, this time under the shrill screech of the Silver Banshee.

Agents not already down or wounded from Henshaw’s attack dropped under the agonizingly concussive barrage of Siobhan’s startlingly high-octane scream.

Palms pressing against her ears so tightly she could hear the rush of her own blood over the Banshee’s assault, Leslie staggered in place before dropping to one knee. Having experienced Siobhan’s power when they first met, the DJ recognized immediately the “platinum upgrade” Dr. Luthor had bragged about giving her.

The moment Siobhan paused for a breath, Leslie glared through the lattice of lightning arcing within her pupils and growled, “Goddammit, I wish you would just shut the fuck up!”

She charged toward the Banshee, morphing into a vortex of lightning that twisted and curled around Siobhan’s body the moment she made contact. The DJ lifted her up into the air and spun her like a top before releasing her to drop heavily to the ground.

When she regrouped into her human form, she braced herself to shoot forward once more at the sight of Siobhan rising. However, the Banshee merely curled over onto her side, a multi-note moan of pain fluttering within her throat.

Shifting her focus, Leslie finally took notice of a new figure now kneeling by Henshaw’s side. Lillian Luthor had quietly moved from the shadows while Siobhan had tried to incapacitate the shock jock and the agents, and rebooted the cyborg’s overloaded systems. Henshaw once more sat up, his eyes glowing with the icy blue fire of his laser vision.

Luthor, however stopped him from attacking directly. “Trigger the sprinkler system,” she hissed, glaring furiously toward the DJ she had thought dead.

Leslie caught the order seconds before the cyborg took aim, uncoiling as fast as she could and zapping herself directly upward and out of the way of the impending water assault.

Quickly taking aim, Lucy squeezed off several rounds from her M-4, directly into Henshaw’s face, before he could fire. Even in the darkness, she could see the amber reflection of emergency lighting against the metal revealed beneath the cyborg’s once more lacerated flesh.

The howl of fury Henshaw unleashed nearly matched the flare of his laser vision as he once more sliced an arc across the expanse of the corridor junction. As he provided cover, Luthor collected a large metal case from the shadows before struggling to help Siobhan to her feet. “Get us out of here, now!”

The cyborg shifted his aim upward at the order, blasting loose several chunks of roughly hewn rock onto the DEO agents still unbowed by his and Siobhan’s efforts to the contrary.

In the midst of the distracting chaos, Lucy caught sight of Henshaw lifting both Luthor and Siobhan and departing toward the entrance through which they’d come, almost as swiftly as she’d ever seen the Girl of Steel fly away.

“Black Hawks, this is Blue Team Leader. You’ve got three hostiles approaching you from the outpost’s eastern entrance. One is Hank Henshaw. He is transporting Lillian Luthor and Siobhan Smythe, also known as Silver Banshee. I didn’t note any weapons on Luthor, but she is holding onto a large metal case. Smythe is extremely dangerous, but currently also is injured and possibly unconscious.”

“Blue Team Leader, this is Black Hawk Five. I am in pursuit of hostiles.”

“Same from Black Hawk Three, Blue Team Leader.”

“Copy that. Be careful, Three and Five. Henshaw’s already crashed one of our Hawks today.”

As responses filtered through her line, the major rose to full height and began assessing her teams. Many agents had risen once more or were trying to shift free of the rubble Henshaw had rained down on them. One agent struggled against a larger chunk of rock pinning down his legs.

Before she could give orders for his assistance, she felt the hasty rustle of movement beside her as Jaime rushed to the trapped agent’s aid. Gesturing to two nearby agents, the Secretary ordered, “Take his arms and slide him free as soon as I can lift this.”

Ignoring their disbelieving stares, she gestured for them to hurry before crouching down low and slipping her right hand beneath the rock’s edge. She found a finger hold quickly and dug her fingers in far enough to secure her grip. With a slight push upward from her legs to test the rock’s weight, she nodded to the agents in position while speaking calmly to the trapped agent.

“We’re going to get you out of this, okay?” The agent nodded, his jaw clenched too tightly against the pain to speak any response.

With a quick countdown, Jaime pushed upward smoothly, her bionic limbs working in perfect sync. When she moved the rock high enough to free the trapped agent, she caught the motion of the others pulling him clear.

As she released her hold, she heard Lucy order, “Black Hawk Four, we have several injured agents coming your way.”

Glancing around, the Secretary noted medics treating three agents with gunshot wounds. A few others continued to sit on the ground, pallid expressions pinched with pain. Traces of blood had dripped down from the ears of one of them, giving away to Jaime the damage caused by the Silver Banshee. She sighed in thanks that she had the ability to shut down at least part of her hearing during the Banshee’s attack.

“Moving into position to collect, Blue Team Leader.”

The major gave the area another visual sweep. At the sudden crackle of electricity above her, she shifted her attention in time to see lightning fissure downward from the rocky ceiling. Leslie quickly coalesced before her, her expression tight and eyes wide.

“I found her! I found Cat!”

With a wild, sweeping gesture toward the corridor through which Henshaw and the others came, she finished, “She’s in there, alone. I didn’t see signs of Supergirl or your agent.”

Lucy reached out to steady the DJ, who vibrated with anxious energy. “Great work, Leslie. Thank you.”

She called over her team and the other lead agents. “We’ve got visual confirmation on Cat’s location, and we know from Tech One that Agent Danvers’s tracker is pinpointing her near Cat. Paulson and Connor, keep to my previous orders. We still need this part of the facility cleared. Supergirl’s location is still unknown. She might be in your sections. We need to locate her quickly.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They organized the remaining agents into two units while Lucy called out, “Green Team Leader, Blue-Alpha moving to locate Pink Panther first and then Agent Danvers.”

“Confirmed, Blue Team Leader. Retrieve Pink Panther and get her to HQ ASAP.”

Whispering her acknowledgement, she nodded to Leslie. “Take us to Cat.”

Surprisingly, the DJ offered no fight to receiving orders, grateful, instead, for their willingness to believe her without question. The unit pressed ahead, no sounds around them but the steady rhythm of their boots against concrete.

Lucy could make out the bars lining each side of the walkway, gleaming in the dim glow of the backup lights. As they moved deeper into the detention area, the major caught the sound of ragged breathing.

In the next cell ahead of them and to the left, Lucy could make out Cat’s silhouette curled up on the floor. The reporter leaned her body against the door of her cell, her head resting against one of the bars. Breath rattled shallowly in her chest and she gripped one of the bars with such force that her skin stretched white against her knuckles.

“Ms. Grant.”

Even tempering her voice as much as she could, Lucy ached at the way Cat flinched away violently. “It’s all right, Cat. We’re going to get you out of there.”

“No.”

Her voice pierced Lucy and her team with its shrapnel-sharp edges. “Kara and Alex. They’re somewhere down there farther,” and she pointed with a shaking hand down the corridor.

“You have to help them. Kara—the way she scre-screamed.”

She choked on the sobs that tore from her chest, the memory of those screams paling only to the horrible moment when the screams stopped and only silence prevailed.

“Please, Lucy,” she begged, “please, forget about me. Just find them.”

The major took Cat’s hand in her own for the briefest of moments, her eyes desperate to convey to her a serenity that even she couldn’t conjure in that moment. “Okay, Cat. Detective Sawyer and I will continue clearing this section to locate Alex and Kara.”

She looked up at the DJ. “Do you think you can short out the lock on this cell?”

“Step back.”

Watching as Lucy shifted away from the door, Leslie looked down at Cat. The shimmer in her eyes betrayed her even before the hitch in her voice as she said, “Don’t touch the bars—unless you’d like me to give you a bitchin’ perm.”

Even as pain twisted through her body from her movement away from the bars, Cat couldn’t hold back a huff at Leslie’s warning.

Leslie reached out, her hand morphing into tendrils of electricity that snapped and pulsed rhythmically. Focusing, she stilled the movement enough to direct the energy into the door’s locking mechanism. Several seconds later, during which no one dared even to blink, the DJ felt the lock retract and she opened the door with a sigh that shook with the weight of her relief.

The DEO medic was quick to move to Cat’s side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders for additional support. That close to the CEO, Murphy felt the deathly chill of her skin and heard the liquid purl of each breath. “Ms. Grant, can you walk with us, or do you need us to bring in a stretcher for you?”

Cat shook her head belligerently even as she shivered in the medic’s hold. “I’m going with you—going to find Kara and Alex.”

Before Lucy could respond, Jaime knelt down in front of Cat, gently gripping one of her knees. She waited until she saw the focus return as much as possible in her friend’s pain-clouded gaze. “CJ, even if I have to sling you over my shoulder to carry you out, we’re getting you the hell out of here _now_.”

Refusing to give Cat the chance to reply, she pressed, “And don’t you dare waste your breath on an argument I swear to you, you’ve already lost. Let Major Lane and Detective Sawyer worry about finding Kara and Alex.”

Maggie crouched down beside the Secretary and rested her hand on Cat’s forearm. “I’m not leaving this place without the complete Danvers duo—but I’m also not leaving here until I know you’re on your way to safety. So, let them take care of you, Cat. Please.”

The strain of holding back the signs of her pain broke, tears flowing into the creases of sunken cheeks. “Find them.”

The words were barely audible, but Maggie understood. With one final nod, she rose and watched as Jaime cautiously gathered Cat in her arms. The detective frowned briefly as she noticed something clutched in one of Cat’s hands. Closer inspection made her realize with heartbroken clarity it was Kara’s cape.

The Secretary stood slowly, Murphy shadowing her movements to help keep Cat as still as possible. Once they were standing, Maggie gathered the rest of Kara’s cape and tucked it loosely around Cat. The CEO softly muttered her thanks as she let her head rest against Jaime’s shoulder. Her hand held so tightly to the heavy fabric, Maggie was certain she would expend the last of her strength before letting anyone take it from her.

Shared understanding filled Jaime’s expression as she whispered gratitude to the detective. Careful to move as smoothly as possible, the Secretary and Murphy followed after Leslie, who clearly intended on providing cover to get Cat to one of the awaiting choppers.

Unable to bear watching any longer, the detective spun and, weapon at the ready, began down the corridor that led more deeply into the detention area. Lucy quickly matched her stride, calling into her comm line, “Black Hawk Two, Pink Panther is on her way to the eastern entrance. As soon as you can onboard her, head straight for HQ. She does not have a second to waste at this point.”

J’onn’s voice followed the sound of the pilot’s confirmation. “Blue Team Leader, tell me you found them all.”

“Negative right now, but Pink Panther confirmed the others are nearby. We’re moving further in to find out.”

She swallowed against the betraying burn of emotions she knew she had no time to entertain. “We need a medic for when we do find them. Murphy is going with Pink Panther.”

J’onn instantly replied, “I’ve got that covered. We’re on our way.”

The corridor ahead of them neared a three-way junction, the side opposite their approach lined with closed rooms bearing numbers on their doors. With a shallow huff, the major called, “Tech One, where is Agent Danvers in relation to our current location?”

“About fifty feet to your east. You’ve also got a reading coming your way—uh, looks like directly through the wall ahead of you?”

The two women spun at the tech agent’s words in time to see J’onn phase through the opposite wall. Holding on to him was Ramirez, one of the medics traveling with Green Team. As he released his hold, the medic stumbled slightly, his skin a shade of green almost similar to the Martian’s.

Morphing once more into his human shape, the director checked his weapon and nodded. “I heard Tech One’s report on the thermal reading. Let’s go.”

The quartet approached the room Winn had identified as housing Alex’s tracking signal, forming a single line along the wall next to the room’s door. With J’onn’s signal, Ramirez moved around from the back of the line and kicked open the door, allowing the other three in to clear the room in alternating patterns.

Once assured there was no threat to them inside the room, Maggie staggered to a halt, every part of her refusing for several beats to react to the sight before them. Finally, a sound akin to nothing she’d ever made before broke from her throat as she hurried to the side of the operating table in the center of the room.

She could feel the pressure of tears filling and falling from her eyes, but she couldn’t fight them—couldn’t stop the devastation roiling inside her as she released the wrist cuffs holding Kara down to the table and tightly gripped one of her hands. Fingertips pressed into ice cold flesh as she desperately searched for any kind of pulse beneath her touch. When she felt nothing, she turned a terrified gaze up toward the medic.

Trying not to focus on the blood that had almost completely soaked the surgical sheet covering the hero’s upper torso, Ramirez removed his stethoscope from his med kit. As he pressed the diaphragm to Kara’s chest to find some sign of a heartbeat, his eyes traced along the edges of the spreader inserted inside the hero’s abdomen. Three surgical clamps were still attached tenuously within the open cavity. He noted surgical trauma to what he recognized as Kara’s uniquely Kryptonian organs.

“Sir?”

J’onn forced himself to look away from Kara’s blood-flecked features, unbearably twisted by pain even in unconsciousness, and focused instead on the tremor of Ramirez’s voice.

“I’m barely detecting a pulse, but there’s no way we can transport her until I can get her at least temporarily closed up.”

Grimacing at the words, the Martian forced himself to reply. “What can we do to help?”

“Oh, god, Alex.”

The trio gathered around Kara twisted in surprise at the sound of Lucy’s barely audible words. The major stood with her back to the others, staring through a window looking in on an adjacent room. Forcing herself to release Kara’s hand, Maggie rushed to Lucy’s side, already knowing—already _dreading_ —what the major saw.

Inside the room, Alex slouched forward limply against the wrist and ankle cuffs holding her to an exam chair. Though Maggie couldn’t see her face, she could tell the brunette was still alive from the tiny convulsions that shook through her body.

Seeing the detective hurry toward the door separating her from Alex, Ramirez quickly alerted her, “I’m pretty sure that’s a quarantine room, Detective. I would strongly advise against trying to go in there. We need to confirm why Agent Danvers is quarantined and whether it needs to continue.”

Pushing back the fight she felt struggling to the surface, Maggie let go of the door handle. Instead, she returned to Lucy’s side, staring through the window once more at Alex. As J’onn moved to her other side, the detective lifted her hands, clenching them into fists she beat against the window that separated her from Alex as she cried out the brunette’s name.

The sound of Maggie’s voice from the OR stirred Alex from the exhausted slump to which she’d succumbed after hours of Dr. Luthor’s “tests.” Groaning from the exertion, she struggled to lift her head enough to look toward the source of the desperate cries for her attention.

Maggie felt a new surge of emotion slip from her eyes the moment she caught sight of Alex finally looking up toward her. The momentary relief, however, grew confused at the way Alex’s expression shifted into incomprehensible fury.

“No! Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare fucking hurt her!”

Her voice ripped primal and raw from deep within her chest, the ferociousness of the fight rising within her pushing her well beyond the limits of her remaining strength. She didn’t care—couldn’t care about anything other than protecting Maggie.

Realizing what was setting her off, J’onn instantly morphed into his true self as he stood beside the detective. The image of Hank Henshaw melted away into alien features the Martian prayed would calm Alex before she hurt herself any further.

“Alex! It’s me! It’s J’onn. You’re safe. You’re going to be okay, I promise.”

She slumped back into the chair, shaking violently as she sobbed out, “She’s dead, J’onn. Kara—Kara’s dead.”

The Martian’s hold on his own emotions slipped in his desperation to calm and protect the woman breaking apart while he watched helplessly. “No, Alex, she’s still alive.”

He pressed a hand against the window, fighting against the urge to phase through the barrier between them and give her the comfort she needed. “Kara is still alive.”

Barely, if her thready pulse was any indication, but J’onn needed to hold onto even that—for himself and for Alex, whom he feared might simply give up on him if she thought her sister was already gone. “We’re going to get you both back to the DEO and take care of you. Cat is already on her way there now.”

While J’onn and Maggie focused on Alex, Lucy moved back to assist Ramirez in his efforts to prep Kara for transport. The major struggled not to avert her eyes as she followed the medic’s orders, her stomach clenching violently at the clear signs of torture Dr. Luthor had inflicted on Kara.

“What are her chances,” she whispered, hoping the detective and J’onn were too distracted by Alex to listen.

Ramirez merely shook his head as he worked, unable—or unwilling—to reply.

As the medic continued stabilizing the hero, Maggie shifted her attention to the computer monitor beneath the observation window. She frowned at the jumble of information scrolling across the screen before looking back toward Alex.

She flicked her gaze back and forth between the readings and the electrodes and catheter lines attached to the brunette. “They were monitoring Alex’s vitals. Blood pressure, breathing, pulse, temperature, plus—what the hell are CBC and CRP readings?”

Ramirez gritted his teeth while suturing an active though disturbingly slow bleed inside the hero. “Those are two blood tests usually done to detect viral infections.”

The detective’s struggle to swallow down her fear echoed in the OR. “She’s—what does _that_ mean?”

The medic’s already grim expression tightened further. “It most likely means the reason Agent Danvers is quarantined is because they’ve infected her with something _they_ didn’t want to risk catching.”

“There are four CBC and CRP readings on this monitor.”

As Ramirez deftly tied off and snipped his suturing, he replied, “If there are four, then I would assume Dr. Luthor was monitoring the progress of four different viruses inside Agent Danvers.”

Maggie glared through a fresh sheen of tears, her voice shifting higher. “How can we confirm that?”

“We need to locate whatever Dr. Luthor might have exposed Agent Danvers to.” He glanced around the operating room before asking, “Do you see a refrigeration unit of any kind inside the quarantine room?”

Maggie leaned against the window, feeling the twitch of her fingers at the sight of Alex slipping forward once more against her restraints. Forcing herself to scan the room, she nodded. “Yeah, there looks like a fridge in there.”

“If they didn’t pack it all into that case Dr. Luthor was carrying, I bet the virus strains they used are still in there. We’ll collect everything and take it back to HQ.”

He began to loosely suture together the hero’s abdomen, his eye line switching constantly between his fingers and Kara’s face. She showed no indication of pain or even awareness.

“What do the CBC and CRP lines show?”

The detective gave a tense shrug. “Nothing—they’re all flat at zero right now.”

Cutting the suture line, Ramirez moved to Maggie’s side and scanned the monitors. “We’ll need to take more extensive readings back at HQ, but I think that’s a very good indication regarding her infection status.”

Sensing the detective preparing to move once more toward the door to the quarantine room, he held up a hand to stop her. “We need to clear her officially, Detective.”

His expression reflected his understanding. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want you exposed to something potentially lethal. Please let us clear Agent Danvers.”

Frustration finally breeching her control, Maggie spun away, slamming her fists once more against the window looking into the quarantine room. Alex flinched at the sound, her bloodshot eyes struggling to focus. “Maggie?”

The detective jerked forward at the sound of Alex’s brittle voice, pressing her palms flat against the window. “I’m here, babe. I’m right here.”

The brunette struggled to sit up, her eyes wide with panic. “Are you with Kara? Is she okay?”

Maggie dipped her head to the side, gaze seeking guidance from Ramirez. The medic stepped into view of the window, trying his best to offer the delirious agent a calm front. “I just finished prepping Supergirl for transport, Agent Danvers. As soon as we get her out of here, I’m going to call in a quarantine unit to transfer you back to HQ.”

“I can wait, Ramirez. Focus on Kara.”

She leaned her head back, the overhead lights reflecting against the sweat and tears mingling along her cheeks. Maggie couldn’t help but notice a fresh color moving upward through Alex’s previously pallid features.

At the brunette’s exhausted silence, J’onn shifted his full attention to Ramirez. “Talk me through what you’ve done and what we need to do next.”

The medic launched directly into his report, his expression subdued. “I’ve stabilized the surgery site as best as I can, but she needs to get back to the DEO as soon as possible.”

His hesitation sent a collective dread through the room. “Even then, I can’t guarantee she will survive. I’ll signal ahead to let Dr. Hamilton know to pull together a surgical task force and what they need to prepare for, but you have to go now, sir.”

The Martian nodded and, unlatching the restraints around Kara’s ankles, lifted her into his arms. Lucy moved in front of them, wrapping a fresh surgical sheet around Kara’s upper body as best as she could without hitting the barely closed surgical site. When the hero made no sound or movement, J’onn hugged her close and flew directly from the room and out through the eastern exit.

Soaring out into open sky, he wasted no time in reaching as fast a speed as he dared fly. Soon enough, he was even outpacing the Hawk transporting Cat back to HQ. Even at his current speed, he caught sight of Secretary Sommers watching him pass, hopefully conveying news to Cat of Kara’s presence in his arms.

As soon as the city’s limit broke the desert’s flow, the Martian dipped and swayed his way around the office buildings before him, his destination finally in sight. The DEO bay doors activated with a soft hiss and he glided in with barely enough time to slow for landing. He’d pushed himself far too fast, considering the condition of the woman he cradled against his chest, but the fact that she hadn’t moved on her own the entire time they were in flight had terrified him more than the possibility of hurting her further with the journey.

Dr. Hamilton and her team were positioned by the doors, gurney at the ready. “Director, over here!”

She and her team barely gave the Martian time to place Kara down before they broke into a flurry of motion around the hero. “Ramirez already briefed me on Supergirl’s status. We’ve prepped the surgery bay and brought up all her blood from the reserves.”

J’onn breathed a silent thanks to Alex for her perseverance with Kara regarding the Kryptonian’s blood. Alex had insisted that Kara provide regular donations of her own blood for storage at the DEO—just like any other agent who risked injury out in the field. Kara viewed it as unnecessary but always capitulated obediently whenever Alex insisted on drawing fresh supplies—even if it meant dealing with the discomfort of a kryptonite tourniquet. That willingness to appease her sister was hopefully going to help save Kara’s life now.

The doctor’s expression was grave as she already began pushing the gurney away from J’onn. “We’re going to do our best to save her, sir, but we need to start now.”

Winn skidded to a stop from his frantic sprint up from Ops, jumping to the side as quickly as possible as the surgical team rushed Kara away. Tears tracked down his cheeks at the sight of her, bloodied and pale and bereft of any of the light that marked the vibrant woman he had grown to love so dearly.

“Agent Schott.” J’onn rested a hand on Winn’s shoulder, drawing his attention away from the rapidly retreating medical team. He understood too well the haunted cast in Winn’s eyes. “They’re going to save her, Winn. You must believe that.”

When words failed to come, Winn let J’onn pull him into a tight hug, his tears quickly soaking the Martian’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's taken me far too long to get this next section of CADMUS Ascending ready to start. Things have changed a bit in my life and my time for writing is a little more sporadic than it was before. However, it's been far longer than I ever wanted to pass in between the last section and this. I do apologize for that. I'm hoping that posting and making this part of the story real will help me find more focus in the time I do have for writing. 
> 
> As I already mentioned, things are going to be dark for a little while longer—but with enough glimpses of light in the distance to show our heroes the way to safety. You're also going to see the rise of several characters who have been on the periphery up until now, plus the arrival of some characters I've been waiting to suit up for a while. But that's all I'm saying about that. 
> 
> I will do my best to post regularly. This section of the story is going to be a swift-moving beast as our heroes take on Lillian Luthor and CADMUS in the final showdown for National City—and the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at the DEO, those tasked with saving Cat are faced with the horrifying truths of Dr. Luthor's actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Warning: Cat has a rough journey through this chapter as we focus on how the DEO medics work to save her. If medical jargon and descriptions (which I really, really hope I did some kind of justice) make you queasy, you might want to skip or skim. I grew up on medical dramas, so I can get a little nerdy about that stuff.

Turbulence rocked the Black Hawk briefly as the pilot rose from position and circled around on-course back to DEO HQ. Leslie gripped her seat as they rode out the unsettling motion, her eyes and jaw both clenched shut. She would have given anything in that moment to convert to her electrical form and ride the atmosphere’s conduction currents back to the DEO.

The sight awaiting her when she finally re-opened her eyes pushed that thought quickly from her mind. Murphy and Jaime had just finished securing Cat to a backboard and connecting her to several monitors. The DJ focused on listening to the medic deliver through his headset the litany of the CEO’s readings on body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. Though the readings meant little to her, the worried crease of Murphy’s expression told her everything the numbers didn’t.

“Leslie.”

The shock jock jumped at the roughly hewn sound of her name dragged from Cat’s mouth. Redirecting her full attention, she shuddered at the sight of the too-real truth sharp in the CEO’s pain-blanched expression. When Cat struggled to reach out to her, she obediently caught her hand, tears rising at the deathly chill of Cat’s skin.

“Thank you. For coming back. For saving. Kara and Alex.”

“I didn’t come back for Malibu—”

“ _Leslie_.”

The DJ clacked her jaw shut at the sound of Cat’s hushed protest. Even in insufferable distress, the CEO could rally the strength to glare at Leslie’s impertinence. “She never meant. To hurt you. I put you. In that chopper.”

Leslie drew Cat’s hand closer, determined not to react to the way the CEO struggled to fit words between shallow breaths.

“Let her. Help you. Find your way. Trust her.”

“Stop it.” The anger she had hoped to conjure against Cat’s clear final attempt to mentor the DJ instead slipped out as a quivering plea that made her sound and feel like a child.

“Let her. Help you. Help Livewire.”

Further words died beneath the tormented groan that ground its way up from Cat’s gut. Body spasms shook the CEO against the backboard’s restraints. Leslie glared with open panic at the erratic alarms that filled the chopper.

“She’s arresting,” Murphy snapped as he shifted his attention to unpacking and powering up the chopper’s AED unit. Realizing what the medic was preparing to do, Leslie untangled her hand from Cat’s slipping grip. Unable to wait for the proper equipment to start up, she held a hand over Cat’s heart. Electrical tendrils pierced downward from her fingers and into the CEO’s chest.

The direct stimulation jolted Cat’s body into an arc against her restraints. Seeing no change after the first jolt, Leslie released another quick charge into Cat’s chest, electric tendrils wrapping around her heart like fingers compressing the organ as it shocked it. After several ticks, a desperate gasp punctured the stunned silence. When the monitor’s beeps once more steadied, Leslie gently dropped her hand over the CEO’s heart and allowed tears to fall at the feeling of the beat beneath her touch.

After several moments of listening to the once-more steady rhythm of Cat’s heartbeat, Jaime slid closer, gripping the DJ’s shoulder. “That was seriously fucking cool.”

The sound of the Secretary parroting back her own words from earlier drew a surprised though needed laugh from Leslie. The effort released some of the tension within her shoulders as she slouched slightly into Jaime’s touch.

Murphy continued to set up the AED as precaution, a look of pure amazement on his face. As he relayed Cat’s condition back to HQ, Jaime glanced up quickly, her sensitive hearing drawn to a new sound approaching their position rapidly.

Hanging out the chopper door, she caught sight of J’onn closing the gap between them. She focused her vision on his form, inhaling sharply at the sight of the hero in his arms.

“What is it?” Leslie shifted as close as she dared to the open door, squinting into the bright sky.

Leaning back in, Jaime offered the shock jock a muted smile while taking one of Cat’s hands. The CEO moaned softly in acknowledgement, though her eyes remained shut. Brushing a damp lock of hair behind Cat’s ear, she said, “They found her, CJ. They found Kara. J’onn just flew by with her. She’ll be at the DEO before we get there.”

She refused to give voice to the hero’s worrying condition. She could hear enough coming through Murphy’s comm line to understand the reason for J’onn’s haste—and its possible futility. Instead, she kissed her friend’s knuckles before pressing them against her own cheek.

Leslie observed the exchange curiously before settling back in her seat. Her legs jiggled as she tried to focus on anything other than the way her stomach was somersaulting inside her.

“Thank you for what you just did.”

The DJ shifted her electricity-blown gaze toward Jaime. She continued to watch Cat’s expression but spoke once more to Leslie. “And thank you for helping us. We wouldn’t have found them as quickly as we did without you.”

She turned her attention finally toward the shock jock. “You did well out there today. If you don’t want help from the DEO, I know an organization that could help you understand and harness your special gift.”

Leslie huffed at the offer but surprisingly refrained from her typical snark. Instead, she simply nodded before turning her attention once more to keeping herself calm.

The remaining moments of their flight sped by with thankfully no further medical emergencies. As the chopper descended to its mark atop the DEO’s HQ, Leslie was already jumping out onto the landing pad. She instantly found herself in the middle of a group of medics, waiting to spring into action as soon as the Hawk landed.

Murphy and Jaime detached Cat’s backboard from its anchors and slid it swiftly toward the awaiting team. They hoisted the board onto their gurney, locking it into place and rushing the CEO toward the awaiting elevator.

“Ms. Grant, I’m Dr. Iovino. We’ve got you back at the DEO, okay?”

Cat struggled to open her eyes and focus on her. Iovino noted subconjunctival hemorrhages in both her eyes. “Kara here?”

Iovino nodded in understanding of the CEO’s truncated question. “Dr. Hamilton already has her in surgery.”

The medical team crowded into the elevator car, Leslie and Jaime slipping in with them. As they descended, Iovino relayed orders through her comms. She finished with, “Find Agent Schott and get him prepped to assist us in the OR. We need to neutralize the nanotech within Ms. Grant as quickly as possible.”

To the doctor’s surprise, the focus of her order stood waiting on the other side of the opening elevator doors. He self-consciously wiped his sleeve across his eyes before stating, “I’ve already moved my equipment right outside the second OR.”

With a curt nod, the doctor and her team wheeled Cat down the same corridor Winn had just watched Kara descend moments before. He gritted his teeth against the wash of unwelcome feelings as he fell in behind the team.

“Mom!”

The team hurrying Cat’s gurney down the hall slowed slightly at the rapid thump of someone running toward them.

Sneakers squeaked against tile as Carter barely held back from plowing into his mother’s gurney. Walking quickly to keep up with the surgical team, he grabbed desperately for her empty hand. “Mama, please say something.”

Rallying some deeply buried reserve of strength in a way that stunned everyone watching, Cat squeezed her son’s hand. With even more effort, she forced herself to open her eyes, her gaze dull and unfocused but aware of her son’s presence.

“My brave, beautiful boy.”

Her eyelids fluttered shut and when she forced them back open once more, she smiled at who was jogging up behind Carter. “Both my boys.”

Adam fell into step beside Carter, one hand instinctively gripping his brother’s shoulder while he held onto the gurney with the other. Though he struggled to maintain a composed expression, he felt his eyes begin to burn as he took in the sight of Cat’s current condition. “Mom?”

Cat hummed softly at the sound of Adam calling her an endearment she knew he had always pointedly avoided. “Take care of your brother. Needs you.”

She held up her other hand, which shook with the effort, and looked at Carter. “Keep it safe for her.”

Uncertainty spiked into heartbreak when the boy realized what his mom was handing him. Shaking his head, he choked out, “You need it right now.”

Iovino took pity on mother and son, gently taking the cape from Cat and handing it to Adam when Carter refused to accept it. The older son took it mostly on autopilot, his eyes sweeping along the soft crimson pleats of the alien fabric.

The medic met Carter’s watery gaze. “We need to get your mom into surgery right now, to take care of her injuries. It would make us all feel better knowing you’re keeping Supergirl’s cape safe.”

Catching the sound of Cat’s heart monitor beginning to alarm the approach of another cardiac event, the medic hastened the surgical team into a faster pace once more. Carter’s grip quickly slipped from his mother’s hand as he stumbled to a stop in the middle of the walkway.

Winn glanced back one final time before disappearing behind the med bay doors. The last thing he saw was Carter breaking apart in his brother’s arms, Kara’s cape now clutched in his hands as his sobs wracked both of them uncontrollably.

The spiking alarm of Cat’s heart racing into tachycardia pulled his attention forward. He tripped as he tried to keep up with the surgical team, his eyes once more flooded with tears. Angry at his weakness, he scrubbed his eyes with his sleeve again and tried to focus on anything other than the medical team tending to the nearly unconscious CEO.

Through the doors leading into the first OR, he caught a glimpse of blonde hair a moment before it disappeared beneath a surgical cap. Blue eyes instantly locked with his as he continued to stare, and Eliza nodded toward him while suiting up and scrubbing in. He grimaced at the realization that she had no choice in that moment. As the sole expert on Kryptonian physiology in light of Alex’s absence, she had become her foster daughter’s greatest chance at survival.

His heart ached as he watched the bioengineer finish and back her way through the doors for the operating room he knew held Kara and her surgical team. With a shaky sigh, he turned in time to watch Iovino and her team shove Cat’s gurney through the doors into the next OR. He hesitated outside, uncertain whether he could enter as well.

Inside the room, Iovino ordered, “We need to get her heart rate down now before she arrests again! Start with fifty milligrams of procainamide.”

Looking around the OR, she snapped, “Schott, get you and your equipment in here now! We need your scans to figure out what’s happening inside her with whatever Dr. Luthor injected into her body.”

The OR doors burst open, Winn tumbling hurriedly through them while pushing a cart of his equipment to the side out of the way. His cheeks darkened with a nervous flush as he booted up his tablet. Once it started, it quickly connected with the scanner he’d modified to detect the nanobots Leslie said Kara had identified inside the CEO. Hands visibly shaking, the tech agent set up the tablet so he could watch the readings as he slowly positioned the scanner over Cat.

As the scan coalesced on-screen, his whole body tensed, his mouth running dry even as his eyes flooded with tears he didn’t bother to stop this time.

Iovino moved to his side so she could see the screen. “Oh my god, what the hell is all of that?”

At Winn’s silence, Iovino gripped his shoulder and calmly stated, “Agent Schott, I need you to translate what this scan is showing. We need to know what’s happening to Ms. Grant so we can stop it and save her.”

The surgeon’s words drew a softly breathed sob from the tech agent. “The-the nanobots—they’ve grouped together inside her in what appear to be attack patterns.”

He pointed to a clustered ring that outlined her lungs and another around her heart. “It-it looks like they’re eating their way through her organs. They must have already targeted whatever organ this is— _was_.”

Iovino’s grip tightened at the break in Winn’s voice. “That’s her spleen, and we can’t make any determinations at this point. My team and I are going to scrub in and get in there to assess the damage and fix what we can.”

She pressed enough on his shoulder to force him to turn toward her. “We can apply patches to the damage already caused, but it’s up to you right now. You’re the one who’s got to stop these things. She needs you.”

The words drilled deep, piercing his heart with the sharpness of their urgency. Without responding, he set down the scanner and once more retrieved his tablet. Switching from the body scan imagery, he pulled up the second file the scanner created, which contained all the raw technical data it could gather from the nanotech.

After staring at the programming for several moments, the tech agent shook his head. Fear widened his eyes and his voice shook with the panic he felt over his next words. “This—this would take me hours to even fully _understand_ before I could begin to figure out how to stop it.”

“Winslow.”

His name wisped in gossamer flutters from Cat’s lips.

Gripping one of her hands in his, he sank to his knees beside her. Guilt filled in the cracks of his breaking heart as he pleaded, “Ms. Grant, I’m so sorry. I-I don’t know how to stop the nanotech in time. I don’t know how to save you.”

He pressed her hand against his cheek, his stubble scratching softly against her skin as he cried.

“Lena.”

Surprise at the name Cat barely whispered quickly began to build into the fury of betrayal. “Did Lena do this to you, Ms. Grant?”

The CEO frowned at the change in Winn’s voice. Her struggle to speak growing ever more pronounced, she answered, “No. Lena’s tech. Lena might fix. Bring her.”

A series of alarms began to sound from the monitors connected to the CEO. Winn startled at the strength of her hold on his hand, realizing soon enough it was from her body beginning to seize.

Iovino quickly separated them, shoving Winn to his feet and clear of the hustle of her team. “Go find Director J’onzz and do whatever the hell you have to to get Lena here!”

Unable (and terrified) to look back at what was transpiring in the OR, Winn instead focused on sprinting through the med bay and back out into the main corridor.

“Schott to Director J’onzz. Please respond!”

As he sped toward Ops, hoping the Martian would be there, he saw the elevator doors at the end of the hallway open, several agents hastening out with one of the DEO’s mobile quarantine units between them. Inside, he could see Alex, sitting up and glaring at the agents surrounding her.

“For fuck’s sake, I’m fine! Ramirez, tell them I’m okay!”

The medic hustled alongside the MQU, his eyes trained on the diagnostic monitor recording Alex’s vitals. Even as he read the data streaming across the screen, he knew the validity of her words.

Since they’d first found the agent, he’d observed her improve across the board in ways he knew should have been impossible. “Agent Danvers, we need to verify the readings for ourselves.”

“You tested my blood before you put me in this fucking fish bowl! You know I’m clear!”

“Alex, you’ve got to calm down.” Maggie jogged along on the side of the MQU opposite Ramirez’s position. She ached to agree with Alex’s fight to be released—but she also understood the agents’ desire to keep the DEO safe from possible alien contaminants.

The brunette smacked her hands against the unit’s transparent walls. “This is just precautionary bullshit and you know it, Ramirez!”

“That might be true, but you know procedure. We need to clear you.”

Glancing up, her frustrated growl slipped away at the sight of Winn running frantically in their direction. As she took in his terrified expression and shining cheeks, she shuddered in uncontrollable reaction.

“What happened?” The brunette ignored the high-pitched tension in her voice. “Where are Kara and Cat? What’s going on with them? Why is Winn running?”

As she snapped her litany of questions, the away team hurried on into the med bay. Wheeling the quarantine unit into the main exam area, Ramirez intentionally positioned it so Alex couldn’t see the operating rooms. He watched as two agents entered behind the detective, bringing with them refrigerated cases containing the contents of the fridge in Dr. Luthor’s quarantine room.

“Agent Danvers, I need you to calm down. We are here to focus on you. There are other teams right now focusing on Supergirl and Ms. Grant. We’re going to let them do their jobs, and we’re going to do ours. Do you understand?”

Once more pressing her hand against the barrier between them, she replied, “Come on, Mateo.” Her voice cracked noticeably against the swell of emotion she couldn’t hold back. “I just want to know what’s happening with my sister and my friend.”

Ramirez kept his head bent to scan the MQU’s readings. “Stewart, see if you can find someone who knows a status update on Supergirl and Ms. Grant.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the agent hustled from the room, Alex leaned her head against the wall and released a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

Maggie moved closer, placing her hand against the barrier. Her dimples deepened with even the slight quirk of her lips when Alex aligned her own hand with hers.

Keeping her voice low, the detective said, “I know this is hard, for you to be in there right now. But let them make sure you’re okay. Accept the same treatment you’d want them to give me in the same situation.”

Even as Alex narrowed her eyes in response, Maggie could see the edges of her lips twitch upward slightly. “Dirty trick, Sawyer.”

The detective raised an eyebrow at the comment but refrained from replying. The building relief within her at Alex’s continuing improvement was already at its breach point. Speaking would tip off Alex and those around her to how close to the surface her already raw emotions were. Instead, she tilted her head to the side, her eyes reflecting her deep concern and raw need for the brunette.

The jarring slam of Stewart bursting back through the room’s door startled them from their moment. “Dr. Ramirez, Dr. Iovino just called a Code Blue!”

The medical staff within the room hustled off without hesitation, leaving the stunned pair staring in the direction they’d run. Maggie finally turned toward Alex with a slight jump at the sound of her banging her hands against the MQU’s wall.

“Let me out of here.”

“But they’re not finished—”

“I’m _not_ contagious, Maggie! I swear it.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Alex continued, “Dr. Luthor—she was using me to test the efficacy of a serum she created with Kara’s blood. She _wanted_ it to be successful, and it _was_.”

She once more leaned against the wall between them. “If that Code Blue is for Cat—Mags, she was barely hanging on the last time _I_ saw her.”

The detective closed her eyes against the memory of the CEO, so frail in Jaime’s arms as she carried her to the chopper.

“I know what could save her.”

The intent of Alex’s statement shivered down Maggie’s spine. Dark gaze widening with worry, she replied, “Please tell me you don’t mean Dr. Luthor’s serum.”

Seeing the confirmation in Alex’s expression, she flinched in disbelief. “Alex, there is no way they’re going to let you use that shit on Cat!”

“I can convince them.” She patted her hand against her chest. “I’m proof that Dr. Luthor’s serum works.”

Pushing back against the fear threatening to crush her hope for Alex in its unrelenting grip, Maggie snapped, “For right now! What about an hour from now? Or a day? You have no fucking idea what that serum might end up doing to you!”

“Dammit!” She pressed her hands against the barrier between them once more, tapping her fingers nervously. “Let me out, Maggie! Cat doesn’t have any more time!”

The brunette’s glare burned feverishly, alerting Maggie to her growing desperation. Expelling a shaky breath, the detective shook her head but unlatched the lock on the quarantine unit door.

The moment she understood she was free, Alex shoved open the door and sprang out of the unit. Impulse drew her toward Maggie with arms opening reflexively. However, she halted her forward motion at the uncertainty flickering in Maggie’s wide gaze.

Struggling to overcome her concerns, Maggie allowed herself instead to listen to the part of her that had been desperately begging for the precise moment she could finally feel Alex once more in her arms. With a barely noticeable stumble forward, she met Alex’s approach halfway, her arms locking around the brunette’s waist with unbreakable urgency.

Breath left her completely as Alex submitted to the feeling of Maggie’s strong hold. Letting herself indulge, even for just a moment, she nuzzled desperately into the detective’s thick tresses. Her lungs filled with the spice of Maggie’s shampoo before expelling in a shuddering, shaking series of semi-sobs she could barely control.

Recognizing the sound of Alex beginning to break in a way neither of them could yet afford to indulge, Maggie struggled to let go. Taking a step back with a stiff nod, she stated, “Tell me how I can help you.”

The brunette turned, her gaze remaining noticeably locked on Maggie’s face as long as possible. When she looked away, she flicked open the locks on the nearest refrigerated case the DEO agents had brought back with them.

“It should still be here,” she muttered as she sorted through the ampoules inside the case. “I don’t think they came into the quarantine area before they fled.”

She recalled the sound of Luthor arguing with Henshaw—recalled the cyborg’s shouted words about not enough space and the need to focus on getting out of there quickly with the “newly harvested specimens.”

Her search faltered at the memory, her vision blurring as her fingers began to slip over ampoules aimlessly. The memory of Kara’s screams rose within her, filling her with a nauseous anger that burned like acid through her whole body. She gritted her teeth so tightly, Maggie could hear the tense grind from where she stood.

“Alex?”

Maggie felt the urgency to comfort the brunette so strongly, her fingertips tingled at the sensation. She stood her ground instead, hoping to give Alex the space she needed to process whatever was beginning to overwhelm her.

“Ka-Kara. She screamed. Sh-she screamed so _loud_.”

Hands lifted on instinct, pressing against her ears as though even then, she could hear the remnants of her sister’s tortured cries.

“I could hear her begging Dr. Luthor to stop hurting her.”

Alex’s chin trembled, tears spilling down her still-sunken cheeks. “And then all I could hear was the sound of Kara screaming in s-so much pain.”

The inevitable break once more surfaced with vicious precision. Knowing Alex would want to keep it at bay just a little longer, Maggie reached out and held her own hands over the brunette’s. With firm pressure, she forced Alex to look at her. The anguish sharp in her russet stare nearly shattered Maggie’s already tenuous hold on her own emotions.

“I swear to you, Alex, we’ll find Luthor. We’ll make her answer for what she did to Kara—to _all_ of you. But right now, Cat needs you to stay strong long enough to help her.”

The brunette focused on Maggie’s tone, which had hardened with the dark truth of her promise. With renewed resolve, she started her search once more.

Fingers finally curled around the correct ampoule as she gave a victorious grunt. “I knew it was still here!”

Gripping the serum tightly, she backed toward the door, her gaze locked on Maggie. “If they don’t throw me in the brig the minute they see me, I’ll—I’ll be back soon.”

Despite herself, Maggie snorted in reply, watching the brunette dash off until the med bay doors had stopped swinging in her wake.

Hitting the first entrance to the OR where she could hear the most commotion, Alex hurriedly scrubbed in while listening to the shouted orders from Iovino and Ramirez through the second set of doors. Satisfied she’d sufficiently suited up as best as she could, she pushed her way into the main OR, instantly immersing herself into the hustling chaos within.

“There must be another bleed we’re missing!”

“Well, you’re going to have to wait to find it until I can let go of her heart.”

Ramirez turned to respond to Iovino’s curt reply, his gaze freezing in mid-shift when it fell on the newest medic to enter the room. Recognition finally clicking, he snarled, “What the hell are you doing in here and not in quarantine?!”

At first, Alex didn’t say or do anything, shocked at the sight of Iovino performing open chest cardiac compressions on Cat’s heart while a nurse worked on suctioning her abdomen.

Ramirez turned away from the brunette long enough to finish hooking up a fresh blood bag. “We’re going to need at least another three pints!”

He glared over his shoulder once more at Alex. “And someone get Agent Danvers out of here before she infects us all!”

The sound of Ramirez’s order snapped Alex from her stupor. Pivoting quickly to avoid an advancing nurse, she argued, “No, I’m not leaving until you let me help!”

“Danvers, you’re just distracting us!”

“I’m also holding the serum that can save Cat’s life.”

At her declaration, Ramirez finally realized she was holding an ampoule in her hand. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Iovino continued her compressions until finally the CEO’s heart agreed once more to cooperate. At the slow return of a steady though noticeably weakened beat, the surgeon pulled her hands out from Cat’s chest.

Shifting her attention, Iovino’s eyes narrowed above her splattered face mask as she appraised Alex’s unexpected presence. “Agent Danvers, you need to get out and take whatever that is with you.”

“Lisa, listen to me. What’s in this ampoule can save Cat.”

“If I’m right, what’s in that ampoule was engineered by the psychopath who is the reason your sister and Ms. Grant _both_ might not survive, no matter how hard we fight for them.”

The surgeon knew her words were cold, but hoped they would hurt enough to shock sense back into the brunette.

“Don’t think I don’t fucking know that,” Alex snarled in return, her eyes shimmering. “But this works! My arm should be broken in two places right now and I should be _dead_ from any one of the four alien viruses she infected me with.”

She noted the nervous shift of agents away from her.

“Alex, we don’t know anything about that serum! We could be giving her an injection that will ultimately kill her!”

“And we’ll be killing her now without it!”

Staring intently into Iovino’s eyes, she asked, “In your honest medical opinion, do you think she has enough time left for Winn to stop the nanotech inside her? Do you think she can even survive until Winn comes back from wherever he went?”

The forehead furrow barely covered by Iovino’s surgical cap told Alex all she needed to know. “I understand the risks and I will take full responsibility and attest that no one present agreed with my decision. Whatever happens, it will all be on me.”

Even as she shook her head, Iovino stepped aside. “Her heart cannot survive another arrest, so do what you need to do now before I come to my fucking senses and have you thrown in a cell for this shit.”

With pointed moves, Alex grabbed a needle from one of the instrument tables, filling it with the same dosage of the serum Dr. Luthor had given her. Injecting the amount into the catheter line affixed to Cat’s hand, she stated in as calm a voice as possible, “Injecting two milliliters of _kryptosanguis_ serum.”

Tossing the needle into a biohazard bag and pocketing the ampoule, Alex reached for Cat’s hand, trying her best not to look at the surgical opening along the length of her chest and abdomen. She instead leaned close until she was able to whisper into the CEO’s ear. “Don’t you dare give up on us, Cat. Carter needs you. He’s such a kind, sweet boy because of how well you raised him. And he’s here now, waiting to hear good news—waiting for us to tell him his mom is going to be okay. Please, Cat. Please let us tell him that.”

Tears slipped across the bridge her nose as she continued to rest her head beside Cat’s. “Kara needs you, too. She needs you more than she’s ever needed anyone. I’ve never seen her so deeply in love, Cat. You make her shine, brighter than any star in the sky. She’s lost so goddamned much. Don’t make my little sister lose her whole world again.”

Unable to say anything more, Alex pressed her forehead against Cat’s temple and simply let her tears fall as she waited.

The rest of the agents in the room stood in silence, staring intently at the screens showing Cat’s readings, the sound of Alex’s pleas echoing through their thoughts.

“Vitals aren’t changing, but that’s actually a good thing.”

Iovino held her breath as she continued to watch the monitors, fists clenched against her sides. At the first sign of improvement, she couldn’t resist the sharp trill of laughter to escape her. “Her heart rate is rising!”

The words set her in motion, drawing her closer to the monitors. “BP is increasing as well.”

She turned to take a better look at the surgical opening she’d made to examine the extent of the damage being done to Cat’s internal organs. The surgeon couldn’t fight the massive grin growing beneath her face mask at the sound and sight of Cat’s heart growing stronger.

Even more impressive were the clear signs of repair occurring right before her eyes. “I’m seeing closure of several lacerations to the superior lobes of Ms. Grant’s lungs. Similar closure beginning to lacerations along the inferior lobe of the right lung—looks like it might be starting on the left inferior lobe as well.”

Examining the other areas of concern within the CEO’s chest and abdomen, the surgeon noted, “The damage to her right ventricle that looked like a growing perforation is starting to close. We still might need to remove Ms. Grant’s spleen, though. Damage there might be too extensive to repair at this point.”

She studied the monitors again, muttering a soft curse of disbelief as she watched the CEO’s vitals slowly but steadily continue to climb. “Then again, this might be a day for fucking miracles after all.”

Glancing up, she focused on Alex. The brunette continued to cling to Cat’s hand, tears falling freely from her eyes as she kept her forehead pressed to Cat’s temple. The two met gazes in silence, looks conveying what Iovino knew she couldn’t actually voice.

What she had allowed Alex to do was something both agents understood they would need to answer for soon enough—but the sound of Cat’s strengthening heartbeat in that moment made whatever awaited them irrelevant.

“We’ll talk about this later, Danvers. Right now, let us finish taking care of Ms. Grant.”

Sniffling as she shifted to rise, the brunette paused long enough to press a kiss through her mask against Cat’s temple. “Like I said once before,” she whispered, “you’re a total BAMF.”

With a gentle squeeze to the CEO’s hand, Alex released her grip and stood, moving out of the way so the medical team could refocus their efforts. Watching only a few moments longer, she quickly turned and hurried out of the OR, trusting the agents to finish what the serum had started.

Back outside the operating room after shedding her surgical attire, Alex stumbled a few steps before staggering to a halt. Her body trembled with the rush of adrenaline and emotions flooding her in the moment.

From the position she’d taken across from the OR doors, Maggie could see the now unstoppable collapse of control coming. It shook through Alex in tremors so terrible, the brunette clenched her hands tightly to steady them.

And then Maggie heard the break—a shard of agony torn from Alex’s lungs in one horrific sob that leveled her to her knees. Instantly by her side, Maggie wrapped Alex in as tight an embrace as she could.

The brunette’s breaths came in hitching, halting sobs of sound, and when she felt Maggie’s arms encircle her, she simply surrendered.

As Maggie rocked them in a soothing rhythm, she pressed kisses along Alex’s hairline and let her own tears begin to fall. Gently encircling one of Alex’s wrists in her grip, she entreated, “Loosen your fists, Alex.”

She ran her thumb over Alex’s knuckles, trying to give her something else to focus on beside the horrors she knew were overwhelming Alex’s thoughts in that moment.

Slowly, however, Alex’s fingers released, bloody nails leaving deep half-moon slices in the pale flesh of her palms. Maggie instinctively hissed in sympathy at the sight. “Oh, babe, what did you do?”

She cupped Alex’s hands in her own, staring down at the painful nail marks. Her next words, however, about needing to take care of Alex, died under the weight of her shocked gasp. As she watched, the wounds slowly stitched themselves back together before completely fading away.

Mesmerized by the sight of Alex’s skin healing itself, the detective didn’t notice Alex watching her until the sound of the brunette’s thick whisper startled her. “Luthor did this to me—and now I’ve done it to Cat.”

When Maggie looked up, she felt her heart thud painfully in her chest at the lost, terrified shine in Alex’s stare. “I shouldn’t have done this to her. Lisa was right—we don’t know what this is going to do to me, and now I’ve sentenced Cat to _my_ fate.”

Before she’d finished uttering her realization, Alex began pulling away from Maggie. Her eyes grew wide and her entire posture stiffened fearfully. “And now I’ve put you in danger, too.”

“Alex, no. You haven’t done anything to hurt me.”

Fighting to keep calm against Alex’s panic and need to punish herself, Maggie shifted up to her knees in front of the now cowering brunette. “You haven’t hurt me, Alex,” she repeated, her voice surprisingly steady. “And you haven’t done anything but what you knew would save Cat’s life.”

She shuffled forward slowly and rested her hands on Alex’s knees. “Whatever happens to either of you next, you have to remember this: Cat would be dead right now if you hadn’t helped her.”

Nervously, she reached out and cupped Alex’s face in her hands, a soft hiccup escaping her when Alex didn’t pull away. “You saved Cat’s life, Alex. You gave her back the time Luthor stole from her.”

At Alex’s acquiescence to her touch and words—the way she leaned into Maggie’s hands and the way she closed her eyes but nodded slowly, finally in acceptance—Maggie exhaled. When she shifted her position to sit once more beside the still shaking brunette, she refused to hide her renewed tears at how quickly and easily Alex curled into her hold.

The perfect, solid fit of Alex in her arms finally eased the fear Maggie had felt raging through her since she’d first learned of the brunette’s capture. And while the words still hooked stubbornly in her throat, she knew the truth of her feelings for Alex filled her heart in a way she’d almost forgotten was possible.

“I am never letting you out of my sight again, Alexandra Danvers.”

The brunette huffed at the sentiment, a wet, throaty sound that brushed warmth along Maggie’s collarbones. The brief reprieve broke, however, with the tight choke of noise Alex exhaled.

“She might die. K-Kara—she might die.”

Alex’s sorrow soaked Maggie’s shirt and she knew there was such brutal truth in Alex’s words, she couldn’t offer refute or comfort.

“Don’t let yourself go there, Alex.” Refusing to close her eyes, fearing the recall of Kara’s prone, tortured body in her mind’s eye, she instead whispered, “Trust the doctors in with her right now. Trust they will save her.”

The detective’s words stiffened Alex’s spine and drove her to sit upright. Eyes bright with grief, she replied, “I should be in there. I’m—I know all about Kara. I’m her-her—I should be—sh-she needs me—”

“Alex?”

Both women startled and shifted at the sound of J’onn’s voice, gruff and weighted with worry. The Martian moved closer, noting how Alex shivered in Maggie’s hold. “What are you doing out of quarantine?”

The brunette tried to answer but instead crumpled once more into hiccups of sound she struggled and failed to contain. J’onn turned questioningly toward Maggie.

“We nearly lost Cat.”

She flinched at how her words landed like physical blows to the Martian, who bowed beneath their weight.

When she shifted attention beyond him, however, she straightened in surprise. Sensing the strength of her instant mood change, J’onn intervened. “It was Ms. Grant’s idea for us to ask Ms. Luthor to help us disarm her nanotech.”

Standing beside Winn, silenced by the shock and shame of why she was there, Lena staggered backward with a nervous swallow at how quickly Alex’s countenance hardened at J’onn’s words.

Before the brunette could address the CEO, however, Maggie intertwined their fingers together and softly stated, “Lena was vital in helping us regroup and focus after Henshaw took you. She also helped us figure out why you were heading back to Eve’s, and she’s working on getting us information that might help us pinpoint other CADMUS locations.”

Lena could see the slow shift in Alex’s bearing as she absorbed Maggie’s words. She could see, too, a soul-deep despair within the brunette’s gaze that Lena knew hadn’t existed before her capture.

The CEO hung her head, the burn of guilt in her gut no exoneration for whatever evils her stepmother had inflicted upon Alex or Cat—or her best friend.

Too afraid to ask about the hero, she instead pushed aside the emotions she could feel swelling within her. The watery sheen of her gaze and the harsh swallow she forced down were her only tells of her own approaching collapse of control. “I want to do whatever I can to help Ms. Grant.”

Inclining his head toward the OR doors, J’onn ordered, “Agent Schott, you know what to do.”

The Martian’s words released Winn from his anxious torpor, spurring him once more into motion. Holding open one of the swinging doors for Lena, he explained, “I’ve already scanned Cat with equipment I programmed to find your nanotech. The-the code I pulled looked complete—but also incredibly complex.”

Lena remained quiet as they stepped through the next set of doors, instantly assailed by glares from each agent in the operating room. Winn shifted slightly enough to block her from as many disapproving looks as possible. “Sh-should we wash up first?”

With a sharp, disapproving glance to the rest of the medics, Iovino shook off Winn’s question. “Just stay clear of my team and you’ll be fine.” Making eye contact with Lena, she finished, “Thank you for agreeing to help us, Ms. Luthor.”

As the CEO lifted the locked laptop case she brought with her to Winn’s equipment cart, she frowned dismissively. “I would have proven myself no better than the Luthor reputation if I had refused. Besides, I owe Ms. Grant a great debt.”

She caught the way Winn’s eyes widened in surprise but pressed onward, unlocking her case and booting up the laptop within it. “Link me to your readings so I can determine what Lillian did to my programming.”

The harsh rasp of her voice against her stepmother’s name caught the attention of everyone in the room. Winn hastily shared his tablet with Lena, allowing the data to flow into her secured system.

Light turquoise glare shifting rapidly along the lines of code scrolling before her, she felt a queasiness roil in her gut at what she was seeing.

“She completely removed their safety protocols.”

She looked up, features paling further at her understanding. Seeing the juxtaposing confusion in Winn’s gaze, she explained, “When we realized the nanotech was forming independent decisions based on what it was learning, we agreed we needed to figure out a way to stop it from learning anything that could lead to it harming humans.”

“A very Asimovian decision.”

Lena snorted at Winn’s comment, some of the tension in her shoulders loosening. “Yes, well, it was the one piece of programming Jack and I simply couldn’t get to work properly. It’s why we haven’t been able to proceed beyond computer simulations. In all our tests, the safeguards inevitably broke down.”

She waved her hand at the screen still scrolling code, her expression once more tightening in disgust. “CADMUS apparently decided to ‘solve the problem’ by just removing the safety protocols. The nanobots inside Ms. Grant are operating fully under their own sentience and with no moral limits.”

“How can we stop them?”

The CEO shook her head, a mournful darkness rising in her eyes. “It’s worse than just them removing our safety protocols.”

She pointed to several lines of data. “I’m running the code through a scanning program L-Corp designed to detect high-level programming threats. Look at this.”

As he looked over her shoulder, Winn felt the same crush of dissolution he could hear in her voice. “Polymorphic code?”

“It looks like it’s encrypting an executable designed to respond to any attempts to stop the nanobots from their learned attack.”

She met his gaze, her own bright with contrition. “We’re going to have to manually rewrite the infected code.”

From her position by Cat’s side, Iovino interrupted. “Is there a way to pause the nanobots while you reprogram them?”

“I’m afraid whatever we try to do to the code before eliminating this executable could accelerate the nanotech attack on Ms. Grant.”

Shoulders slumping under the returning weight of reality, Winn replied, “There’s no way to save her in the limited time she has left, is there?”

Iovino held up a hand, halting Lena’s response and Winn’s spiraling despair. “Agent Danvers came up with an—unorthodox solution regarding Ms. Grant’s remaining time.”

The doctor ignored their responding curious stares. “It’s not an ideal situation, having those tiny little assassins inside her, but she’s in a better position to fight them now.”

As Iovino returned her focus to the scalpel she’d been wielding, she added, “Just focus on the nanobots. We’ll take care of Ms. Grant.”

With a shared look, Lena and Winn retired to their respective tech to begin removing the malicious code embedded into the programming. The CEO enabled the workspace Winn had helped to re-secure during his visit to L-Corp, allowing them a virtual workspace to test their changes without being connected to the nanotech.

While they worked, Iovino led her staff in removing what was left of Cat’s spleen. Though the surgeon had given the _kryptosanguis_ serum a longer running time to work its miracle on the organ, she and her team had finally accepted the damage the nanotech had done was beyond even miracles at that point.

As they finished their surgical extraction, they noted Lena making a pleased sound, which Winn quickly mirrored. The CEO finished inputting a final line of code, her fingers dancing across the keyboard with a fevered elegance Winn couldn’t help but admire.

“That’s the fifth successful test in a row in our computer simulations.” She looked up, a cautiously hopeful gleam finally brightening her gaze. “I think we’re ready to proceed with extraction.”

Even as he felt his nerves skitter and jump at the thought, Winn nodded his agreement. Keying in several commands, he answered, “You now have control of the connection I established earlier with the nanotech.”

Doubt flared and died with stunning swiftness as Lena commandeered the connection through her laptop. “Got it. First thing I’ll do is push our patches to the nanobots.”

She glanced toward Iovino and the other medical staff. “This should remove the malicious code CADMUS embedded and prepare the nanobots for the next phase. We’ve returned enough of the security protocols to reset the nanobots from continuing their attack on Ms. Grant.”

As she entered the commands to upload the patches, she forced herself to continue talking. “Once we stop them, we’ve tested extraction protocols that will pull the nanobots from Ms. Grant’s body in as non-invasive a manner as possible.”

Bowing her head in concession, she added, “They might still cause damage, but we’re going to try our hardest to minimize it.”

Chiming from Lena’s system interrupted Iovino’s response. The CEO’s voice wobbled but her smile was enormous. “The patches worked!”

Winn’s eyes sparked with relief as he watched Lena push the next batch of corrected code to the nanotech. The room full of agents all waited anxiously as Lena and Winn monitored the progress of the next phase.

Holding up his tablet in a noticeably shaking grip, Winn exclaimed, “The nanobots have stopped!”

Lena’s laughter broke through the tension in the room, and several agents offered her respondent smiles.

“Okay, last phase.” The CEO cleared her throat of the tightness of fear rising within her. With a nod to Iovino, she asked, “Is there another biohazard container we can use for the nanobots when they leave Ms. Grant?”

With a quick order, the surgeon sent an agent to retrieve the requested disposal container. Satisfied, Lena transmitted the final code to the bots, ordering them to withdraw from Cat’s body.

In the ensuing silence of the OR, interrupted only by Cat’s monitors, those present watched as a shimmering mist coalesced from out of the still-open surgical site. Shifting her attention between the gathering cloud and the readings on her laptop, Lena gave a slow, steady countdown until she finally declared, “We are at one hundred percent extraction. No nanobots remain inside Ms. Grant.”

Eyes glued on the hypnotic undulations of the nanobot collective, Iovino cautiously asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“This.” With another flurry of typing, Lena set the cloud into motion, flowing into the biohazard container she’d requested—and then the CEO deactivated them with a final bit of code and a downward flick of the container’s top to secure the now-defunct tech inside. “They won’t be hurting anyone else ever again.”

Iovino quickly moved once more into action, not wanting to waste another second. Orders flew rapidly around the room as she gathered the instruments she would need to put Cat back together and close up her surgical site. “Schott, get that container as far the hell away from Ms. Grant as you possibly can. And I don’t care if you have to dip it in concrete or weld it shut, bury it, or nuke it from orbit just to be sure, but you’ll secure it from ever opening again.”

As she removed the spreader bar that had been keeping Cat’s surgical wound from healing itself, she caught the way the edges of the opening had already begun to pull together and seal on their own. “She’s already starting to heal herself, but let’s go ahead and give her a little help. Give me some Steri-strips.”

“Heal herself?”

Winn clutched the container against his chest. His heart slammed wildly against his ribs at the understanding rushing through him from the radio chatter he had monitored on Alex’s condition. “Did Alex—”

“Not now, Schott.”

Iovino continued to apply Steri-strips in what the surgeon realized quickly was a pointless effort for a wound healing with impressive speed. “We have a lot yet to examine regarding what Agent Danvers has done. Plenty of time to talk about it then.”

Topic summarily closed, Winn tamped down any further curiosity. Instead, he offered Lena a crooked grin as he began for the OR exit. “Why don’t we check in with Director J’onzz and update him on Ms. Grant’s status?”

Agreeing with a nod, the CEO shifted on her heels, ready to fall in beside the tech agent. She paused, however, at the sound of Iovino addressing her.

“My staff and I will be sure to inform both the director and Ms. Grant of what you did here today.”

Claret lips parted in appreciation as Lena continued with Winn out of the operating room.

Back in the med bay main hall, however, her smile froze before slipping downward once more into a querulous curve. She observed Alex clamber to her feet from where she’d apparently remained with Maggie, responding to the appearance of a doctor from the OR where Lena assumed they were working in Supergirl.

The doctor dropped the surgical cap she’d just tugged off her thick blonde hair, her expression drawn with exhaustion and a disturbing despondency. With weary moves, she opened her arms, her invitation instantly accepted by Alex. The two women wrapped each other in unbreakable embraces, the doctor whispering something to Alex as she held the brunette.

The responding sound from Alex punched through the silence with emotion purer than any Lena had ever known. And then Alex was sobbing one word—one _name_ —with revelatory despair, and all Lena could think as her own heartbreak streamed down her cheeks was she suddenly couldn’t remember the final words she’d ever spoken to her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another tentative step toward bringing our heroes once more into the light--with a couple of stumbles along the way. 
> 
> If you enjoyed Leslie and Jaime's interactions in the last chapter (and I have it on good word a few of you did ;-)), I hope you enjoyed the brief continuation of that. I always wanted more for Livewire on the show, ever since the scene between her and Cat in "World's Finest," when Cat asks Leslie to spare her life for her sons. Something in Leslie's expression spoke so many volumes to me--showed me there was a story there that deserved to be told and a hero who deserved to be found. So many actual heroes on the show who deserved so much better...
> 
> Ah, well. I also really love the Bionic Woman, and ever since her first brief appearance all the way back in Reveal Me, I've been patiently waiting for the time when I could validly bring her into this story. Her time is finally here, and you bet your ass I'm enjoying it. 
> 
> I'm also enjoying bringing Lena more closely to the heart of the story as well. I like Lena Luthor. I like Katie McGrath. I think the show underutilized the latter for far too long and I think they're being unnecessarily cruel to the former. The shit they're putting Lena through on the show is painfully Whedonesque in its pretense of "Look at this strong woman and all she can survive," when all they're really doing is torturing her for the LOLz. If you're going to torment your characters, do it with some purpose, people. 
> 
> Now, excuse me, I've got some character tormenting...I mean story writing to continue... ;-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regrouping after evacuation and moving into the next phase...

Screen light dimmed then darkened, unread words disappearing once more, this time without care. Reports and hourly updates would continue to flow into her inbox for days to come as her teams dealt with the fallout of their unexpected retreat from the Moracinda facility. Her primary concerns, however—securing the Kryptonian samples and ensuring no traces remained of CADMUS research within the facility—were already taken care of easily enough.

Her IT team had severed links to the cloud server for all devices left at the facility before Henshaw had even managed to lose the pursuing DEO choppers and get them safely to the Black River facility. And her security chief confirmed he had activated emergency protocols within all the laboratories as soon as he knew the doctor was safe.

No physical evidence remained of their research at Moracinda. As for the samples she had brought with her, she knew her research staff had been studying them in various ways nonstop since their arrival. That portion of their work, she decided, would continue, even if she didn’t finish reviewing all their reports that night.

Letting the tablet slip from her hand, Lillian pushed back from her desk and walked to the corner credenza. As she gave herself a healthy pour of brandy from one of the decanters, she felt a curious gaze upon her from the open doorway to her office.

“Would you like some? It’s the same as what Lex always drank.” She sniffed in amusement. “He must have developed an affinity for it while sneaking drinks from my study as a teen.”

“No, thank you, Doctor.”

With an accepting hum, Lillian took a sip before returning to her desk. However, she circumvented her previous seat, moving instead for one of the armchairs positioned to the side. Waving toward the other as she sank into the soft leather cushions, she sighed, “I’m happy to see you completed your assignment so quickly. I hated sending you away again so soon after your return.”

Lips upturning with only the slightest betrayal of her happiness at Lillian’s confession, Eve entered the office and took the seat the doctor had indicated for her. “Thank you for trusting me to make this delivery for you.”

Lillian studied the woman quietly, knowing she would remain unfazed by the scrutiny. When she had first met Eve Teschmacher, she’d understood instantly that who she was seeing was not who Eve truly was. Instead, she was who Lex had always needed her to be: the obeisant ingénue who offered nervous laughter and flirtatious adoration with what seemed to Lillian sycophantic zeal. However, Lillian had also quickly recognized the hard edge of understanding beneath all the blonde’s soft pretense.

Lex was brilliant but braggadocious, like his father, his insatiable arrogance sometimes outshining his actual accomplishments. Eve had grasped this with impressive speed and had made herself into what Lex craved most—someone to worship and obey him without question or hesitation—in exchange for the access to what _she_ craved above all else.

At first, Lillian had thought the blonde merely opportunistic. Investigation into her life showed none of the predictable provocation for her fierce dedication to their cause—no reason for the sentiments toward aliens she shared so readily with the _true_ Luthors. Nothing of any importance, in fact, stood out from what Lillian had surmised was a staid life that offered no issue—and no challenge.

As she continued to observe Eve in service to her son, Lillian soon enough understood that what Eve had known before Lex was not the life she had envisioned for herself. Nor was it the life that would foster the remarkable gift she had brought to the Luthor family.

What Eve offered was a wholesale rejection of the demands for alien acceptance and integration, fed to the masses by a media curiously eager to label the respect of human superiority as bigotry and ignorance. What she promised was the possibility that myriad others shared her tenacious hold on the truth, regardless of what false gods and dethroned “queens” tried to inveigle the masses to believe.

In Eve’s refusal to turn her focus away from her beliefs, Lillian found hope that others like her would rally in kind, if given a banner under which to join, in defense of one-species rule and the total abrogation of any laws designed to grant rights to the unwelcome and unwanted invaders.

Under Lex’s progressively disjointed tutelage, Eve found the purpose she had been craving. When the weight of vengeance finally broke Lex’s focus on his own true objective and his inevitable downfall became clear, it was with no hesitation Lillian offered Eve sanctuary by her side. She, however, made it clear from the moment Eve arrived in National City after Lex’s arrest that she no longer needed to subjugate herself as payment for a place within the Luthor circle.

Lillian had far different expectations: loyalty, discretion, and competence. She had given Eve _carte blanche_ in how she wanted to proceed as part of CADMUS, as both a sign of her trust and as a test of how well Eve would meet her expectations.

Satisfaction settled across her face at how exceptional Eve proved herself to be with impressive regularity.

“You earned it, Eve. After all, it was your unerring reconnaissance that allowed me to finally collect those samples you just delivered.”

Noting the oddly charming mixture of pleasure and discomfort to rouge the blonde’s fair skin at the praise, Lillian continued on to another topic. “Now, tell me, how are both locations coming along with their work?”

Settling into the far more comfortable focus on their work, she said, “The Kwajalein Atoll facility is coming along with their matrix, but not as quickly as we had hoped. They’re about two weeks off-schedule. However, they had several officers who were very eager to test the _kryptosanguis_ serum I brought them.”

Lillian cocked a brow knowingly. “Of course, they’re eager. I received the same responses from Wünsdorf and Skrunda-1 when they received their serum delivery. What about the Cheyenne facility?”

“They’ve completed their matrix and are ready to begin testing with the genetic samples I brought them.”

She removed a memory stick from her pocket, extending it toward the doctor. “They’ve also collected a list of potential candidates for human genetic contributions.”

As she took the stick and placed it on her desk, Lillian mused, “A list of the finest and most earnest officers available, I’m sure.”

Dark liquid swirled inside her snifter with the languid twirl of her wrist. “I’ll review the information in the morning. For now, I suggest we both enjoy an early evening.”

The blonde frowned at the thought. “Oh, no, Doctor. I’ve got a lot of work left on the new video we’re releasing if I want to have a rough cut ready for your review in the morning.”

Eagerness shining in Eve’s expression melted the doctor’s resolve, if only slightly. “Eve, it will be there in the morning.”

“No,” she repeated. “We need to release the new video as soon as possible. We need the world to know what CADMUS has done for them—what _you_ did.”

Pausing long enough to observe the color in Eve’s pale cheeks darken with her fervor, Lillian tipped back the last of her brandy and slid the empty snifter onto her desk. She then unfolded her long frame from the chair with fluid ease, glancing down at the blonde with a half-smile.

“Very well. I’ll leave you to your work.” Gesturing toward the tablet still resting on her desk, she added, “I saw Henshaw uploaded the images from the latest Byrne Park drop-off. Please make sure you use them. I want to highlight as many of the humans we can who have died in some way attributable to the Kryptonian. ”

Eve rose quickly, following slightly behind Lillian as she headed out into the corridor. “Of course, Doctor.”

Lillian’s thundercloud irises darkened as she stared into the middle distance. “A shame, really. I would have preferred Siobhan’s survival over Leslie’s. The Silver Banshee’s curse might have unhinged her, but she was proving manageable.”

The shock jock’s betrayal still vexed the doctor, though she consoled herself with the knowledge that anyone willing to form allegiances with Cat Grant was the type of human CADMUS would eliminate first when they brought forward their new world order.

“Still, at least we now know for certain we have one less Kryptonian to contend with when we begin our next phase.”

Eve made a pleased sound before adding, “I’ve also included the video of the Vi’itraavi’s removal from Captain Garrick.” She frowned at the reminder. “Have we received any signals from the Vi’itraavi since implanting it into its new host?”

With an impartial sigh, Lillian replied, “No, and I doubt we will. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new host body has already given out—and even if it hasn’t, the host is probably sitting in a cell at the DEO, as useless there as he was here.”

Reaching a corridor junction Lillian knew would send them in different directions, she turned to face her assistant. “Think of the Vi’itraavi as my gift to you.”

Catching the instant curiosity, she continued, “I know you persevered through a great deal to remain embedded at CatCo as long as you did—made sacrifices none of us had anticipated to secure the information that ultimately captured the Kryptonian.”

Shifting her gaze down to the floor, Eve’s cheeks flushed at the doctor’s incisive comment. “I did what I had to do to bring you what CADMUS needed.”

Lillian tempered her expression as best as she could, disgust stirring within her at what Eve had endured. “And now I have done what I needed to do for you.”

Detecting Eve’s returning discomfort at the current conversation’s focus on her, Lillian gave her arm a light squeeze and finished, “I look forward to seeing the first cut of the video in the morning—but promise me you’ll get some rest between now and then.”

Smile once more alighting her lips, Eve replied, “Of course, Doctor. Rest well,” and she spun swiftly and headed off, Lillian watching her until she turned a corner and disappeared from view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there will be CADMUS chapters in this section, though not many and not nearly as...intense as the previous section's chapters.
> 
> I have to admit: Writing Lillian Luthor in normal situations kind of creeps me out more than writing her as full-stop evil.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surrounded by those who love her, Cat struggles to heal while dealing with Kara's uncertain condition.

The first inklings of consciousness started not as pain as she had, for some foggy, untenable reason assumed it would, but instead as various pressures she catalogued with the slow awakening of her body.

In her head, shifting her memories into muddled, disturbing forms.

Behind her eyes, popping with prismatic flare against the darkness.

In her ears, muffling the sounds of nearby voices, soft and familiar—but confusingly incongruous together.

With time, she noted the more sinister pressure of unease—snaking through her like wild vines, invasive and pervasive in equal and unsettling parts. It caused her heart to beat in jackrabbit rhythm with the thoughts now rising rapidly from the morass of her recent memories.

She should be afraid.

She should be broken.

She should be dead.

Her body jolted at the final thought, her attention instantly drawn to a new pressure, wrapping more tightly around her waist and shifting against her chest. She knew this pressure, as familiar as the soft, dark curls and sky-blue eyes belonging to who she knew she would see if she would simply look.

Teeth gritting against the fearful whimper she felt scratching up her throat, she eased open her eyes. Fluorescence bleached the edges of her vision as she squinted up at the ceiling, her confusion deepening with each passing moment of awareness.

Movement in her periphery tugged her attention toward two figures—the source of the voices Cat still couldn’t understand together, even as she watched the women converse softly with each other. A third woman sat to the side, head against the wall and eyes closed. Even while resting, her expression remained taut, the worry lines across her forehead far deeper than Cat had ever seen them.

“A Luthor, a Lane, and Livewire. Who knew my hallucinations would be so alliterative?”

Her voice scraped from the arid length of her throat, raspy yet rakish as only Cat Grant could do. And just as she always could in any setting, she instantly commanded the room’s attention.

The first to respond was Lucy, eyes snapping open the moment she heard the voice she’d been waiting desperately to hear. Legs pushing her hastily up out of her seat with a soldier’s reflexes, she reached for Cat’s hand before the CEO had even realized she was extending it.

It wasn’t Lucy’s voice she heard first, however. Instead, it was the slightly groggy “Mama,” whispered timidly beside her as she felt the shifting weight of her younger son against her side. Turning toward the voice, she still managed to grip Lucy’s hand tightly as the major came to stand beside her bed.

“My brave, beautiful boy,” she whispered, the words teasing forward a fragmented memory and a fractured cry from Carter. She pressed her free hand against his sleep-flushed cheek, her palm instantly wet from his tears. “I’m here, Carter. Mama’s here.”

Carter buried his face against her neck and cried unashamedly, words lost to sounds that rattled Cat’s bones and tore open her heart. Releasing her grip on Lucy’s hand, she wrapped her arms solidly around him. One hand splayed out over his back while she ran the fingers of her other hand through his dark curls. As she scraped her nails lightly along his scalp in a way he always loved as a little boy, she hummed softly to soothe him.

Tension drained from his limbs, his hold on her lessening enough to let her pull in several deep breaths of air.

“I was so scared I’d never see you again.”

His soft confession unraveled her with devastating swiftness. Barely able to eke out words, she held onto him as tightly as she could and whispered, “I’m so sorry, my darling. I’m so, so sorry.”

Snuggling down once more against his mom, the boy tugged a blanket up over both of them. “Now we can keep this safe for _ieiu_ together until she can take it back.”

The anguished crack in his voice distracted her for several seconds from understanding what he meant. Her attention, however, finally snagged on the familiar crimson pleats draped across her son’s thin shoulders and fanned out over her upper body.

Kara’s cape.

_“Keep it safe for her.”_

The moment Cat turned again toward Lucy, the major could see the questions sharpening her gaze. Reaching for Cat’s hand once more, she blurted, “She’s alive, Cat.”

Both women flinched at Lucy’s declaration, the word choice not lost on the journalist now glaring at her with increasing alarm. “What—”

Lucy hastily halted what she knew would be a barrage of questions. “I’m going to go find Dr. Iovino. She’s going to be able to answer your questions far better than any of us can.”

The major turned to leave but stumbled at the sudden ferocity of Cat’s hold on her hand. Wincing slightly in response, she softly said, “Please, Cat, let me go get the doctor.”

She brushed her other hand through Cat’s hair, smoothing back unruly curls and waves she knew the usually well-coiffed CEO would never tolerate under normal circumstances.

“Stay here with Carter.” She tapped a finger against Cat’s temple. “Stay out of _here_. Wait until you have all the facts.”

The appeal to Cat’s intrinsic investigative need was enough to quiet her and cause her to let go of Lucy’s hand. As she watched the major hasten from the room, she once more wrapped Carter in her full embrace. Her breath hitched and hesitated in her chest as she held him, her thoughts crashing through her mind in a discordant jumble that refused to sort—refused to make any sense at all beyond the one thought to which she kept returning.

_She should be dead._

Nothing swirling within the muddled maelstrom inside her head could contradict or explain away what Cat knew was incontrovertible truth. Lillian Luthor had doubly damned her, the physical pain of her slow suffering nothing in comparison with the torment of listening to Kara’s screams and being helpless to save her from whatever she was enduring.

She could feel the piercing echo of those screams beginning to overwhelm her—could feel the squeeze of panic around her lungs, the tight bind of her helplessness locking her limbs, the sharpness of her pain distorting the edges of her vision. Only the solid feel of Carter in her arms grounded her from falling further down into the darkness she’d hoped never again would attempt to reclaim her.

Sensing the familiar spiral of his mother’s emotions, Carter hugged her more tightly. When he spoke to her again, his voice had noticeably steadied, shedding its previously terrified cadence. Now, he spoke firmly though with a compassion and care Cat always knew she would find with her younger son.

“She’s going to be okay, Mom. She’s strong—almost as strong as you are.”

His lips shifted upward at the soft huff to stir his hair as he continued to hold tightly to his mother.

“Cat?”

Shuffling from the doorway drew all eyes toward where Adam paused. He scratched his neck nervously as he watched Cat push herself into an upright position, Carter rising to sit cross-legged beside her.

Though her older son was quick to shift his attention, she couldn’t ignore the faintest flicker of protectiveness she saw in the way he looked at Carter. Pushing it aside for the moment, she began to reach for him—before hesitating and instead patting an empty space on her bed. “Come in, Adam.”

She observed his own hesitation before making his decision and moving to sit where Cat had indicated. She could see confusion in his dark gaze as he scanned her face.

“Are you okay? You—you look—you don’t look anything like you did when they brought you in.”

His eyes continued to shift as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing with how she had appeared on arrival.

“I don’t really know what happened.” A thought shivered through her. When she spoke again, her voice wavered. “How long have I been here?”

“About three hours from how asleep my butt is from sitting in this cheap chair.”

Cat rolled her eyes at the shock jock’s crude reply even as the stiffness in her shoulders visibly loosened. At the feeling of the bed shaking from Carter’s barely stifled laughs, she tapped his knee with mild reproach.

“Tactful as always, Leslie.”

Her reprimand held no sting at all. Leslie sniffed dismissively, electricity flickering in a surprisingly joyful gaze.

Lucy’s return interrupted any further conversation, her arrival shadowed by an agent Cat recognized but couldn’t name—and Eliza. The bioengineer’s smile grew wide enough almost to distract Cat from the exhaustion dulling her eyes.

Sitting beside the smaller blonde where Adam had made room for her, Eliza pulled her into a hug. “You’re okay.”

She whispered the words with what sounded to Cat like anxious uncertainty. When she leaned away, she wiped quickly at her eyes, her smile wavering. “Alex is going to be so relieved to know you’re awake.”

Defying the dread she could feel sizzling through her blood, Cat forced the question whose answer she feared most of all in the moment: “What about Kara?”

The agent who had accompanied Eliza and Lucy stepped forward. “Ms. Grant. I’m Dr. Iovino. My team and I took care of you when you arrived at the DEO. Do you remember me?”

“Vaguely,” she conceded, her narrowed eyes a warning to the doctor for her interruption.

With a curt nod, Iovino directed her next words to the room. “Dr. Danvers and I need to speak with Ms. Grant in private for a few minutes.”

As Leslie and Lena rose to shuffle out behind Lucy, Cat turned apologetically toward her sons.

“It’s all right, Mom.” Carter gripped her forearm to draw her attention. “All that matters to Adam and me right now is that you’re all right.”

He turned his attention toward his older brother, who offered what Cat could tell was a nod of uncertain agreement. Whatever hesitation was obvious to her went unnoticed by Carter, who kissed her forehead before scooting down the bed and hopping off. “We’ll be right outside when you’re finished.”

Adam quietly followed after his brother. As the door began to shut once more, Cat caught sight of Agent Toscano stepping forward to Carter’s side.

When the room cleared, Iovino shifted her stance to a familiar at-ease posture. “Agent Danvers informed me you have no patience for people who waste your time, so I’ll try to be as succinct as possible.”

Even for all the confusion steadily surging through her thoughts, Cat couldn’t help the twitch of gratitude to shift her expression at Alex’s warning to Iovino.

“When you arrived at the DEO, we had an extremely limited amount of time in which to save you. You’d already gone into cardiac arrest once during the flight. Ms. Willis was kind enough to shock your heart back into rhythm, but it was a short-lived effort. We needed to call Code Blue on you two times. The second time, we nearly didn’t bring you back.”

Cat’s arms snaked around her knees as she drew them up against her chest, the doctor’s details teasing memories right to the edge of her mind’s shadows. The strongest memory rushed through her with chilling clarity.

“I thought I was going to die there.”

Iovino’s gaze softened with compassion at the small, terrified confession. “You almost did, Ms. Grant. But you have a—diverse team of guardian angels.”

Eliza reached to grip one of Cat’s hands in a grounding hold. Slowly, she began to trace a familiar box pattern against the back of Cat’s hand with her thumb. Internally, Cat counted down the numbers that matched Eliza’s movements— _chahv, tav, non, ten—_ while letting the feel of Eliza’s strength calm her.

“So, tell me how I’m still here,” she finally found the courage to ask. “And conspicuously healthy and unblemished, minus this hideous coverall.”

Prefacing her response with an amused snort, Iovino replied, “Thanks to your clear thinking, we got Ms. Luthor here in time for her and Agent Schott to reprogram the nanotech inside you to withdraw.”

Her demeanor tempered. “What do you know or remember about what Dr. Luthor did to Agent Danvers, Ms. Grant?”

Cat struggled to force order onto the cyclonic thoughts twirling through her mind. “They took her away not long after she and Kara arrived. Lillian ordered Henshaw to bring Alex to her lab. Kara tried to stop him.”

She felt her stomach clench at the memory of Alex’s pain. “He broke Alex’s arm twice to get Kara to let her go.”

“Do you remember anything else about what happened to Agent Danvers?”

“Only that Kara couldn’t see her once they left because of all the lead in the walls—but she could hear Alex’s heart. She said it was beating too fast for too long.”

At her words, she felt Eliza’s grip tighten unconsciously—caught the flash of anger in her narrowed eyes.

It was then Cat realized Eliza’s exhaustion barely covered her rage, burning white-hot and wild in her gaze. Lillian Luthor had come for her family yet again—caused pain and suffering and once more forced Eliza to face loss even crueler than the decade spent believing her husband dead.

Lillian Luthor had come for Eliza’s daughters.

Cat needed no translation for the truth of Eliza’s rage, which she shared most vehemently: Lillian Luthor would not be coming for another Danvers ever again.

With a tug at the other blonde’s hand to redirect her attention, Cat asked, “Alex is okay now?”

Unable to speak in the moment, Eliza nodded, a shadow of a smile ghosting her lips for Cat.

Iovino interjected, “We are currently monitoring Agent Danvers. Dr. Luthor used her as a test subject for a serum she created from Supergirl’s blood that has enhanced Alex’s healing ability.”

The muscles of Cat’s throat strained to swallow around the bitter bile bubbling up from her belly.

“We’re also monitoring you for the same reason.”

Her breathing halted, hung in her chest for so long she could hear a woozy euphoric roaring within her ears.

“Ms. Grant?”

The surgeon’s worried prompting rallied her back from the darkness always staining her edges.

“Why? Why are you monitoring me for something Lillian didn’t inject into me?”

“Because Agent Danvers did.”

The responding glare was deathly sharp and twice as frightening, and the agent couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Cat Grant to break someone in a DEO interrogation. In a voice deceptively calm, the reporter stated, “Please take your time explaining that last bit until I can believe it.”

Forcing herself steady, Iovino responded, “It was the only alternative we had left at that point, Ms. Grant. The second time you started to arrest in our OR, we had already opened you up to assess the damage the nanobots had done to your internal organs. I ended up pumping your heart back into rhythm with my hands.”

Disconcertion shadowed Cat’s expression at the visceral image Iovino’s words painted in her mind. The fingers of her free hand unconsciously traced a line along her sternum, lips parting slightly in surprise at the feeling of wholeness beneath them.

“Your body was at its breaking point. Alex’s option of Dr. Luthor’s serum was more than the zero options we had left to keep you alive long enough for Lena to remove the nanotech from inside you.”

Breathing deeply through her nose, she finished, “Agent Danvers proposed the serum, but it was my final call. I allowed her to use it. It was a snap judgment, but one I felt was advisable in the moment.”

She pointed toward where Cat was still stroking her fingers as if trying to find some evidence to corroborate Iovino’s statement. “A little more than three hours ago, Ms. Grant, you were cracked open like a piñata on my operating table, with my hands wrist-deep in your chest, trying to keep your heart beating. When I finally released you to this recovery room, the only physical sign left of the horror Dr. Luthor had put you through was the fact that we couldn’t save your spleen.”

Cat flinched back against the pillows behind her at the last news. “I don’t have a spleen anymore?”

“No, the nanobots had already damaged it too extensively. The serum couldn’t help it. However, I watched it take effect on other organs—I watched your lungs and your heart heal themselves of the damage from the nanobots.”

Her tone became reverent, hushed as she relived those moments. “Alex saved your life, Ms. Grant. It was unorthodox and we still don’t know what fallout there might be—but I stand by her decision. I stand by whatever it took to keep you alive.”

As Cat processed the surgeon’s words, her gaze drifted toward the door where she knew her sons stood waiting for her.

“Where is Alex now?”

She felt the bed shift as Eliza straightened her position. With a nod toward Iovino, she took over. “She’s with Kara.”

The way Cat’s heart began to hammer against her ribs made it difficult to focus on breathing, on the pattern she felt Eliza pressing more firmly against her skin—on not slipping into the grip of the panic she felt digging in with its sharp, filthy claws.

“And where is Kara?”

Eliza could see the fog of fear rolling through Cat with slow, chilling tenacity. She shifted, drawing one leg up underneath herself, and faced the smaller blonde directly. Taking both her hands in her own, she stated calmly, “Kara sustained very serious injuries from what Dr. Luthor did to her. We have done everything we can for her. Now, we have to trust her unique physiology to take care of the rest.”

“But she’s okay.” The smaller blonde’s tone filled with dread as she spoke the words and waited for confirmation from Eliza.

“Kara’s condition right now is critical, Cat.”

She tightened her grip on the smaller blonde’s hands in preparation for what she had to tell Cat. “Dr. Luthor removed a significant portion of her Kryptonian organs—at least a fifth of each one.”

The bioengineer noted the strangled sound Cat made even as she saw withdrawal starting to dull normally blazing emerald eyes. She also caught the sickened discoloring of Cat’s complexion. It matched her own particular shade of nausea whenever she thought of the unbearable suffering Lillian had inflicted upon her younger daughter.

“We don’t know what that means for Kara at this point. Since her arrival on Earth, her body has always been able to repair itself—but we don’t know if that will extend to growing back pieces of organs.”

Eliza exchanged looks with Iovino as they watched her words barely crack through Cat’s increasingly unfocused mien.

“Kara’s life signs became completely undetectable while we operated on her. Kal-El had to go to the fortress to search his pod’s data crystals on anything that could explain why _._ ”

It was a stark reminder, assisting in the OR on Kara’s surgery, that even she knew so little when it came to Kryptonian physiology. All she did know with unrelenting certainty was how the long, sonorous note of Kara flatlining on the operating table was now carved into her very bones.

“What he brought back was information on a protective healing state, deeper than a human coma, that Kryptonians will enter when they sustain injuries more severe than even their bodies can withstand. They call it _ghaoryth im dovrrosh._ ”

“And she’s—she’s in this state now?”

“Yes. We lost all her vitals while in surgery to repair all the damage she sustained.”

Venomous fury sluiced through her veins, barely distracting her from the unfathomable heartache that had rooted itself firmly in her chest. “However, when we hooked her up to an EEG, we found enough neural activity to confirm she was still there—still fighting.”

Brushing her fingers over her eyelids swiftly enough to capture the moisture gathering along her lashes, she added, “As soon as we finished her surgery, we called Kal-El. We needed him to come out here anyway; Kara needed more blood than we had in reserve for her. Kal-El was able to provide us with enough to stabilize her. She’s now under sun lamps to help reverse her solar flare and give her body the energy it needs to heal.”

She paused to give Cat time to process, all while watching the smaller blonde’s responses with a knowing concern that comforted Cat yet also frightened her. She had learned long ago never to expect others to stay long enough to care—or to care long enough to stay through what Carter’s father had once deemed the insufferable intricacies of her mood shifts.

Eliza’s closeness, however, came with the pre-established certainty of compassion almost too real for Cat to believe herself worthy.

As Cat allowed the silence to press down upon her, more memories surfaced with brutal clarity: clutching her ears in desperation, sobbing and screaming into the heavy fabric of Kara’s cape, the sound of Kara’s cries unbearable and inescapable.

“I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t even comfort her. She was trapped and powerless because of me, and alone and suffering—and I-I was useless.”

Thoughts twisting in the anxious currents now churning uncontrollably in her mind, she struggled to pull free of Eliza’s grip, convinced in that moment she could never deserve this woman’s compassion for what she had done. However, she couldn’t stop her confessions, not for forgiveness—her betrayal of Kara was unforgivable—but so Eliza would know the truth of who had caused her daughters such suffering.

“I tried so hard not to—not to let Lillian use me to trap her. I couldn’t—I couldn’t take any more pain. She suffered because I’m too weak—too _human_.”

Tightening her grip, Eliza watched with distressed understanding. “Cat, I need you to focus on my words right now. Please stop and listen. Can you do that?”

The smaller blonde continued to pull against Eliza’s surprisingly unbreakable hold, her thoughts crushed beneath the weight of guilt misguided.

She had caused this. She had pushed and ignored all the warnings because she was Cat fucking Grant—and Kara had paid for her arrogance. As Cat had listened to Lillian break Kara unmercifully, she had wished the nanobots would kill her outright, because she deserved to die for being the reason Kara was screaming.

“Catherine, please.”

The sound of her full name, wielded with gentle entreaty, froze her long enough to draw her gaze to Eliza’s. The bioengineer took the moment to release her hold on Cat’s hands, instead pressing them against Cat’s now tear-stained cheeks to steady her increasingly wild movements.

“Focus on my words, Catherine. Listen to me—only to me.”

She wasn’t sure how much more her heart could break as she watched Cat struggle to obey her request. “You haven’t had a dose of Lexapro since whenever you last took it yourself. We held off administering any because we need you to help us readjust your dose based on how your newly enhanced healing will alter your anxiety disorder and PTSD.”

She smoothed her hand through Cat’s hair. “So I understand that right now, it’s really hard for you to believe me, but no one here blames you for what happened to Kara, Alex, and you. No one ever will.”

Gently gripping the back of Cat’s neck, she waited for the smaller blonde’s constantly fluctuating focus to return to her. “ _I_ will never blame you for what happened. It was Lillian Luthor who hurt my daughters—and my friend.”

Shaking her head with stubborn disagreement, Cat still allowed Eliza to pull her close and wrap her arms around her trembling body. Resting her head against Eliza’s shoulder, she softly pleaded, “Please take me to her.”

Eliza felt Cat’s muscles immediately tense in preparation for a refusal she knew she would never give the smaller blonde. “Of course, Cat.”

She released her hold and gestured toward Iovino, who retrieved a stack of clothes and shoes Eliza had deposited on the table by the door. She handed them to Cat with a lopsided grin. “Alex put these together for you. She said there was no way she was going to make you walk around the DEO in one of their coveralls.”

The smaller blonde gave a snort that choked on the thicket of emotions in her throat.

Rising from the bed, Eliza finished, “We’ll wait for you outside—unless you think you need help?”

With careful moves, Cat swung her legs out from under the sheet and pushed herself up to her feet. Eliza noted how she instinctively clutched Kara’s cape in her hand as she steadied herself against the bed.

Recognizing Cat’s determination, Eliza and Iovino moved out into the hall to grant her privacy.

As soon as the doctors once more appeared, Carter jumped up from where he had been leaning against the wall between his brother and Agent Toscano. Stepping toward Eliza, his assigned protector once more his shadow, he nervously asked, “Is she okay?”

Drawing him close for a hug, she softly replied, “She’s processing a lot of information right now, sweetie. So, she might not be completely herself at the moment—not until she sorts through everything Dr. Iovino and I just told her.”

Carter frowned. He knew the basics of his mother’s condition, thanks to Eliza insisting they keep both of Cat’s sons advised of her status. He also knew there was more Eliza was withholding—more she needed his mom to know first. His mom’s rapid healing, however, was something no one could hide from him, even if they had yet to explain it.

“She’s changing into more comfortable clothes right now and then I’m going to take her to Kara.”

Mention of the hero rippled through the small group with various responses. Eliza noted how Adam’s expression tightened while Lena could barely control the tremble of her chin as she avoided eye contact with anyone else.

She knew both had gone through a thorough de-briefing with J’onn, complete with non-disclosure agreements, concerning Kara’s identity. J’onn indicated Lena had accepted it all with a nervous, heartbroken acquiescence. However, he had sensed within Adam a strong undertow of displeasure and disdain, smoldering beneath a growing mistrust aimed, surprisingly, toward his mother.

Whatever was fueling his emotional turmoil, Eliza could only hope he refrained from adding to the weight she already feared was close to demolishing Cat’s crumbling control.

When the door to Cat’s room opened, however, all else fell from Eliza’s thoughts. The smaller blonde shuffled forward, practically drowning in folds of black cotton. Even the smallest sizes of the DEO’s sweatpants, T-shirt, and hoodie dwarfed her slender frame, bunching at her ankles over the trainers Alex had found for her, and slipping down over her hands, still gripping tightly to Kara’s cape.

Standing before the smaller blonde, it occurred to Eliza, with paralyzing wrath, how truly _tiny_ Cat was. Stripped bare of the armor of her intentionally grand persona, she became ephemeral, delicate, frangible.

Vulnerable in all the most frighteningly human ways—and she had endured suffering Eliza struggled not to imagine. However, the painful details of Kara’s torment left her with the bilious understanding of what both Cat and Alex had barely survived.

Beside her, Lena shifted as though able to sense Eliza’s increasing fury and its justifiable cause. She shrank away from the group with agitated movements. “I-I should be leaving.”

Before Lena could pull back too far, Eliza withdrew herself from her darker ruminations and steadied her with a hold on one forearm. The bioengineer waited calmly until Lena finally raised a queasy, questioning gaze upward.

“Come back tomorrow to visit Kara.” Her grip tightened preemptively, predicting Lena’s attempt to withdraw at the mention of Kara’s name. “I know she would appreciate _your_ company.”

The emphasis, from Kara’s foster mother, unlatched the hesitation and guilt that had locked Lena’s posture into a rictus painful to observe. Eyes quickly shifting downward once more, she softly offered, “I’ll try—as long as it’s all right with Ms. Grant, too.”

Peripherally, she caught the shifts in expression during Cat’s slow grappling with her statement. Each second of her silence deepened the shame Lena bore in her shameless stepmother’s stead.

“You saved my life.”

Lena’s head snapped upward at the statement, spoken with what Lena viewed an unearned certainty. She stared in quiet shock at the other CEO.

Unfazed by the glistening sea-glass gaze leveled at her, Cat finished, “You’ll come back.”

Despite herself, Lena couldn’t fight the faint grin to adorn her lips at how commanding Cat Grant could be in apparently any situation. “Of course, Ms. Grant. I will see you both tomorrow.”

As Cat gave a committal hum, Adam straightened his stance and pointed over one of his shoulders. “I’m going to head out, too. I need to get a hotel room.”

“You can stay at—”

Cat caught herself, the sounds of her sudden memories crashing cacophonously through her mind: the sickening violence of Vasquez’s body shattering glass and slamming against walls and doors, Henshaw’s furious growls, the explosive splintering of wood below her as she tried to hide.

Hand fluttering to her mouth, she softly exhaled Vasquez’s name into her palm. Not even the steadying weight of Eliza’s hand on her shoulder could tether her against the torrent rushing through her mind.

Adam clenched his jaw, the responding storm in his dark glare once more catching Eliza’s concern. “It’s fine, Cat. I can take care of this myself.”

Without waiting for Cat to pull herself up from the muddle of images blinding her momentarily to anyone else’s presence, Adam nodded toward Carter while backing away from the group. “If you need anything before I come back, call me, okay?”

The younger boy frowned at the sentiment as he moved closer to their mother’s side. Still, he nodded cautiously, which seemed to please Adam.

Lucy stepped toward the two departing visitors. “I’ll escort you downstairs and set you up with the temporary credentials you’ll need to return. Director J’onzz already started the process for both of you.”

She glanced over her shoulder toward Leslie, who hovered uncertainly along the perimeter of the group. “Ms. Willis, I can take you to the temporary quarters we’ve set up for you.”

The DJ snapped to attention, looking far more _shocked_ jock than shock jock. “Wait, you’re not throwing me back into one of those fish tanks at the other place? Or sending me back to Ordway?”

“No, Ms. Willis. If you’ll come with me, I’ll get you set up and then we can get some food and talk. The DEO owes you a great deal for your help.”

Exhaling in a way that revealed far more about her uncertainty since coming back to the DEO than she liked, Leslie moved to join Lucy. However, she paused long enough to reach for Cat’s shoulder.

The murky gaze that slowly shifted toward her tugged downward at the corners of her mouth. Afraid to say anything that would reveal more of her truth in that moment, Leslie let her fingers slip from Cat’s arm and followed the major, Adam, and Lena.

“Mom?”

Eliza couldn’t help the half-smile as she watched Carter wrap an arm around Cat’s waist and rest his head against her shoulder. The young boy instinctively knew his touch would help his mom focus. With slow movements, she hugged him closer and kissed the top of his head.

“I’m here, Carter.”

It was more how Cat said it than what she said that smoothed the worry lines along Carter’s forehead. With a nod, he looked into her eyes, his own shining brightly with resolve. “Let’s go see _ieiu_ now.”

“Wait.” With noticeable effort, Cat focused on Eliza, her question clear to the other blonde before she even asked it.

“Vasquez is in intensive care. She’s got a long recovery ahead, but she’s going to be okay.”

Despite Eliza’s reassurance, Cat stubbornly shook her head. “No. I heard her. I heard what Henshaw did to her. She’s—”

Eliza took Cat’s free hand in her own. “I won’t lie to you, Cat. Even with all her training, Vasquez took some serious damage from Henshaw. She’s going to be out of commission for quite some time, but I promise you, she is going to make a full recovery.”

“Has anyone been to see her? Is anyone staying with her?”

Concern once more brought focus to Cat’s aspect, which Eliza was pleased to see. To the scientist’s surprise, however, Toscano responded.

“I’d be happy to sit with Agent Vasquez. I believe the DEO is as safe a setting as possible for Mr. Grant, and I would simply be in the way where you all are going. Also, I have it on good word that Agent Vasquez and I would like each other—ma’am.”

The unexpected tease drew a sharp tongue click from the smaller blonde. Eliza looked to the Secret Service agent with double gratitude—for her offer and for her ability to draw Cat further back into the light of the present.

Satisfied with the solution, Cat finally allowed Carter and Eliza to lead her toward Kara’s room. As they moved through the now quiet med bay, she noted with surprise how agents snapped to attention when they passed.

Eliza observed her confusion. “That’s for you,” she softly explained. Even as Cat’s brow furrowed more, Eliza smiled at how Carter preened for his mother at the comment. “Pink Panther has returned.”

The smaller blonde rolled her eyes at the name, her cheeks flushing nonetheless in acknowledgement of the agents’ show of respect.

As they headed toward the room farthest down the hall from the main med bay, she focused on the closed door before them. If either Eliza or Iovino noticed the way her body lurched as though suddenly refusing the thought of moving, they politely kept it to themselves. Instead, they watched as Carter laced their fingers together and guided her through the door.  

The _chiaroscuro_ contrast of sun lamps against the surrounding dimness locked Cat’s gaze in place the moment she entered the room. Kara lay beneath the light with as minimal covering as possible, her skin deceptively aglow as she absorbed the yellow sun radiation she desperately needed. She bore no signs of injury to her face, but Cat noted bandages wrapped along her abdomen and around each of her wrists and ankles. The smaller blonde touched her own wrist at the sight, phantom pains from the cuffs Lillian had used on her flaring beneath now-healed skin.

Shuffling forward from Carter’s grip, Cat skimmed her fingertips along Kara’s temple and down along her jaw. A disquieting cold spread beneath the surface warmth of the hero’s skin. Electrodes covered her temples and across her chest, but Cat startled at the realization she heard no sounds coming from the equipment surrounding her bed.

“The monitors—they aren’t _monitoring_ anything.”

Beside her, Eliza explained, “The _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ put Kara’s body into such a deep healing state, her vitals won’t register on any of our equipment right now.”

The smaller blonde’s swallow echoed in the quiet. “Then how do you know she’s even—she’s—”

Fingers curled around her hand on the side opposite Eliza. Feeling the grip tighten, Cat breathed deeply in the steadying sensation and turned, expecting Carter and instead meeting Alex’s quiet observation.

“Kara’s vitals aren’t registering, but we’re picking up a burst suppression pattern of brain wave activity on EEG. Right now, it’s in isoelectric phase, but it will alternate back to slow waves, given time. She’s alive, Cat. I swear it.”

Eyelids suddenly too heavy to control slipped downward over dimming green eyes. As she let her head tilt forward, she felt Alex’s arms draw her close.

The brunette whispered into her ear, “She’s coming back to us, Cat. I know it’s hard to believe that right now, but you and I? We’re walking proof of the unbelievable.”

Alex’s words tugged Cat back into the moment enough that she ran her hand down along the arm she had seen—she had _heard_ break only hours before. Encircling her fingers around Alex’s wrist, she looked up once more.

Alex watched the play of emotions in golden flecks, understanding all the words Cat couldn’t find through her un-medicated haze.

Behind Alex, Maggie shifted into view, pulling another chair over to where she and Alex had been sitting. She came around to stand in front of Cat. Her dimples deepened slightly with tempered relief at the blonde’s arrival.

“Come sit with us.”

Cat complied, her only response a displeased frown when she realized how far away they all were from Kara.

Catching the movement, Alex sat beside her, once more taking one of her hands in her own. “We have to stay out of range of the sun lamps. They’d have the same damaging effect on us as overexposure to the sun.”

Body curving inward in disappointment, the smaller blonde seemed to shrink inside the oversized hoodie. However, she made no move to argue or protest. She merely wrapped her other hand more tightly around Kara’s cape and stared forward.

Carter pulled a chair up to her other side, his hand instinctively grasping onto the loose fabric of her sleeve the way he used to cling to her pant leg when he was a toddler.

Time stretched outward into the empty silence of unknowing, and all she could do was sit perfectly still, limbs weighted with dread. Fleeting glimpses of movement around her flittered along her peripheral vision and she noted distantly the muffled buzz of what might have been words, but the exhaustion throughout her body demanded her full focus.

A constant pressure on her forearm finally regained her full attention. Blinking slowly several times, she looked up into Alex’s expectant expression. The brunette quickly recognized her confusion and repeated herself.

“I’d really like you to eat something before you get some rest, Cat.”

Brows pulling together, Cat struggled to process Alex’s request. “I just woke up. I’m fine.”

Though the brunette tried to control her reaction, Cat still caught the subtle twitch of her eye. “Cat, you’ve been sitting here for almost four hours.”

She forced back the sympathy threatening to show itself at Cat’s clear disorientation.

“It’s okay. It was already late by the time you woke up. We’ll get back on a normal schedule together. Maggie went to get us all something to eat. Will you eat with me?”

The smaller blonde looked down at her hands, distracted by how they were empty but not understanding why that mattered. “I don’t think I’m hungry.”

“It’s even more important now for you to eat regularly, Cat.”

She smirked knowingly at how her words drew Cat’s natural curiosity. “Your body now burns more calories when it uses your enhanced healing, just like Kara’s does—but at a slower rate, of course. Dr. Iovino had you on an IV while you were still unconscious, to replace your fluids and nutrients, but you haven’t eaten actual food in a while.”

Alex heard the shallow shift of Cat’s breathing, quickly understanding the meaning.

“Hey, look at me, Cat.”

Wincing slightly at the flutter of eyelids that released what she knew were tears of fear and frustration for the CEO, Alex drew in a deep breath to calm herself.

“You trusted me to take care of you once before, while we waited for Kara to wake up from her Red K scare. Remember?”

With the barely-there nod she received, she took Cat’s hands into her own and pressed, “Let me do the same now. Let me keep you and Carter safe for my little sister while she finds her way back to us.”

There was such care and faith in Alex’s eyes—if she could channel every last ounce of her strength into her hold on Cat, the blonde never doubted for a second that’s exactly what she would do. Somehow, in the events that had led them to that moment, Cat had found herself taken into the protective care of this remarkable woman.

Alex Danvers, the only other human alive with Kryptonian blood flowing through her veins—and the steel will of a Kryptonian deep within her soul.

As Alex watched patiently while Cat sorted herself, her gaze shifted to where Carter had slumped in his chair a few hours prior, too exhausted to remain awake. She could see his eyes open now and caught the spark of curiosity she knew related to what she had said about his mom’s altered healing abilities. Realizing she was watching him, he ducked beneath the cover of Kara’s cape, which he’d taken back from his mom and draped around himself.

When Maggie returned from her food run with Winn, she offered Cat first pick from the variety of sandwiches and baked goods they’d brought back from Noonan’s. Everyone watching frowned at how the smaller blonde chose only a banana nut muffin she ultimately did nothing more than hold.

And then her hands were once more empty and her body stiff in ways incongruous with how long she _thought_ she had been sitting there. She sighed as she rolled her head back, startling at the dark, agitated glare directed toward her from Kara’s bedside.

“Adam?”

Looking around, she realized she had missed everyone else’s departure from Kara’s room at some point.

“What—when did you arrive?”

“About ten minutes ago.” His glare never softened. “I came to tell Carter goodbye. The DEO got me a ticket back to Opal City. I’m leaving from here for the airport.”

Even without her full acuity, Cat felt the churlish sting of his anger, filling the space between them. Her own apprehension at his words mounted.

“It isn’t safe for you to leave.”

“I’ve already gone through this with the Martian. He’s assigning me protection back home, but I’m not staying here. Everything I care about is in Opal City. Besides, my name isn’t Adam _Grant_. No one knows I’m your son.”

The barbed edges of his words hooked into flesh already flayed, tore at wounds she refused to let heal.

“Adam, please don’t go.”

A recent, dangerous memory fought its way through the welter of her untamed anxiety.

_“Tell me, should I start with the boy you kept or with the one you threw away?”_

Stepping forward, she reached out, her move instantly rebuffed. She froze in place as Adam stepped aside, her hand suspended in the widening chasm between them.

“She knows.”

Letting her hand drift slowly back to her side, Cat shuffled forward in the shadow of his momentary confusion.

“Lillian Luthor knows who you are.”

Anger blanched into something bleak, haunted, even if only for a moment before resurfacing with fiery resolve.

“So, what, I’m now in CADMUS’s cross hairs because you wanted a piece of Kryptonian ass?”

“Adam—”

“No!”

His nostrils flared as he exhaled sharply, his ire bright in his glare.

“I could handle the idea of you fucking your assistant. I mean, it was disappointing, but it’s not the first, or worst, disappointment I’ve known thanks to you. But this?”

He swiped his hands through his hair, his gaze sweeping where Kara lay as he paced further away from Cat.

“I should have known there was something more to Kara. There’s no way you would waste your time on someone so _average_.”

With his back to her, he missed the way her body jolted at the strike of his words. “Kara has always been extraordinary, even before Supergirl.”

His laughter was taunting and cold. “You may have trained everyone else to believe your bullshit, Cat, but you can drop it with me. You’re nothing more than a ruthless opportunist who’d fuck over her own blood to get her way.”

When he turned to face her fully, he could see his accusation had struck its intended painful bull’s-eye.

It wasn’t enough.

Spreading his hands outward, he landed his final blows. “Do you even care how many lives you’ve fucked up? Or do you even see anyone outside your obsession to get whatever it is _you_ want?”

“I-I was only trying to—to protect—”

“Who?!”

His voice rose to a startling roar that crashed through the quiet room.

“Who did you protect? Kara? Look at her! What about Spencer Graves? Or the guards who died trying to protect him from—from whatever the hell it was CADMUS unleashed on them?

“Did you think to protect your employees? Do you even know how many of them were injured during the attack on CatCo? Do you know how many bodies police found outside your apartment building after Luthor came for you?”

Anger tightened the muscles along his spine as he stalked once more into her space. A vein along his temple throbbed in time with his rising fury.

“The streets are littered with bodies and destruction because of your _protection_. And now you tell me you failed me the one time hiding my existence actually mattered for something other than your own public image!”

Leaning in, he plunged the knife of his words deeper. “And what about Carter? Did you even think about the kind of danger you put him in?”

The edge of his lips rose with spiteful victory. “Guess I’m not the only son you’ve pushed aside for your own ambition.”

“Shut up!”

As Cat staggered backward and slumped down onto a chair, Adam twisted toward the command shouted at him from the room’s entrance. He barely moved fast enough to catch the fists thrown at him with furious imprecision.

Carter yanked and pulled at Adam’s hold on his wrists, yelling as he did, “You don’t know anything about our mom!”

Behind him, Alex swiftly moved into position, grabbing the boy’s shoulders and prying him away from his brother. She watched as Maggie and Lucy moved beside Cat.

“Come on, Carter, ease up, kiddo.”

She continued to pull him back until she could wrap her arms around his shoulders.

Clearly startled by the unexpected arrival and attack, Adam blinked several times and rubbed the back of his neck. When he felt composed enough, he studied Carter with a pity the younger boy bristled to see.

“You’re right, I don’t know her. You don’t know her either—but you should do yourself a favor and not bother to try.”

He cast a withering glance back at Cat, who had seemingly released whatever tenuous grasp she’d had on cognizance. When he turned back to Carter, he gestured with an open hand toward Kara.

“Just remember, this is what happened to a literal fucking superhero when she trusted Cat Grant. You’re not superpowered, Carter. You’re just human. You won’t be this— _lucky_.”

Alex felt Carter lunge in her hold and she struggled against her immediate reaction to let him go. The thought of watching him punch the patronizing curve of Adam’s mouth was almost too tempting to resist.

She knew, however, Cat would never want Carter reduced to blows, even if it was in her defense.

Sensing Alex’s vacillating, Lucy rose from Cat’s side, grabbing Adam’s arm and dragging him toward the door. “I’ll make sure Mr. Foster finds his way to his ride to the airport.”

If the major could have frog-marched him down the stairs and shoved him out of the DEO with a swift kick to his ass for good measure at that point, Alex had no doubt she would have.

Glancing back, she saw Maggie had pulled a chair beside Cat and was holding one of her hands while rubbing her other hand against the shaking slump of the blonde’s shoulders.

The detective gave her a reassuring nod.

“Come on, Carter. Let’s go cool down.”

The boy refused to move, looking uncertainly toward his mom.

“Your mom and I will be fine.” Maggie’s whole face reflected her understanding and kindness. “Take a walk with Alex. We’ll be here when you get back.”

Finally relaxing his stance enough to allow Alex to move him, he obediently followed the brunette’s lead out of the med bay. She escorted him to one of the DEO’s training areas, slipping into the first empty room they encountered.

As soon as she released her grip on him, she perched on the edge of the training platform and patiently watched as he paced the length of the room for several minutes. He flexed his fingers into fists several times, hitting them against his thighs with enough force to make himself wince.

“I could teach you how to box, if you wanted.”

Footsteps scuffled to a halt at Alex’s unexpected offer and she found herself under the confused scrutiny of his wide blue eyes. She felt her chest tighten painfully from the reminder of a similar cerulean gaze she longed to see again more than anything else in this—or _any_ galaxy.

Finally processing what she had just offered him, he huffed half-heartedly while flopping down beside the brunette. “Mom would take down both of us if she found out you wanted to teach me how to fight.”

His body still thrummed with tension, but Alex could see his posture relax as he leaned forward, his elbows atop his knees.

“I didn’t say fight—I said box. There is a difference.” She bumped her fist against his shoulder, pleased to see him relax more.

“It’s a great way to practice hand-eye coordination, think strategically, improve your footwork, and build muscle while blowing off steam.”

Bowing her head, nerves fluttering in a way that surprised and annoyed her, she finished her offer. “I’m also here to be an outlet when you need to talk instead of punch.”

She watched Carter’s expression shift thoughtfully at her offer, caught the way he sat up and, to her elation, scooched closer to her on the dais.

After sitting in silence, scuffing his shoes against the floor for several minutes, he finally growled, “He had no right to say that shit to my mom.”

Alex’s eyes crinkled at the sound of him cursing in casual Cat Grant fashion. More telling in the moment was how he now referred to Cat in an understandably possessive—and singular—way.

Though she loathed to come across as defending Adam, she wanted to keep Carter talking through his emotions. “He’s angry.”

“He’s _always_ angry. And Mom takes it from him—because she thinks she deserves it.”

A lock of hair slipped from behind her ear as she nodded. Even with what little Kara had shared with her regarding Cat and Adam, she understood their relationship couldn’t be anything less than an emotional minefield on its best days.

“My—my dad used to talk to her like that, too, sometimes.”

The unanticipated admission pulled her up short, her fingers curling into her palms at the thought. “He did?”

“I heard him a couple of times—when Mom thought I was asleep. She probably also thought I didn’t understand what Dad was saying to her because I was so young.”

He hung his head, swallowing hard against the bitter memory of his father’s spite and his mother’s tears. “But I did—and I hated him for being so cruel and for hurting her so badly.”

His voice dropped so low, Alex barely heard him. “A part of me still hates him.”

Sliding across the small space left between them, Alex looped an arm around Carter and tugged him into a side hug.

“Sometimes, we carry in us so much of our own hurt or anger, and we lash out in ways we think will make us feel better. It’s never an excuse for hurting others—more like a-a wake-up call for how we need to be better people, but only if we’re willing to hear it.”

Something broke within Carter at her words, surprising Alex with how he curled into her side and buried his face against her neck. The feel of his tears turned her surprise into darker shades of worry and fear.

“I-I said horrible things to Kara.”

The brunette pressed her lips together in comprehension.

“And-and now she won’t wake up and Mom is shutting down and I’m losing everyone and I can’t stop any of it.”

Alex shifted where she sat, pulling Carter into a tighter hold as his sorrow crested. She felt the full impact of his cries as she held him, hurting for him in a way that made her feel frustratingly helpless.

“You’re not losing anyone, Carter. What’s happened to Kara is very scary, but she’s going to get better.”

She paused, considering her words carefully. “CADMUS hurt her badly, even for a Kryptonian, so she’s going to need a little extra time to heal. From all we know about her physiology, though, we believe she _will_ wake up as soon as her body is ready.

“And I swear to you, we’re going to take the best care of your mom. Things might be a little rough for her for a while, though, as we help her readjust her medication.”

Sniffling while he let Alex continue to hug him, he asked, “Why does she need it readjusted?”

Alex sighed, unwilling to lie to him—especially when it came to his mother. “Do you remember what I said to your mom when I told her she needed to eat?”

Even in his current state of distress, Carter blushed at her acknowledgement of his eavesdropping. “You told her she needed to eat regularly when she used her-her enhanced healing.”

“That’s right.”

“Did CADMUS do something to her to make her heal faster?”

“No. I did.”

She let her arms drop away from him to let him sit up out of her hold. He chewed on his bottom lip as he considered her confession. “What did you do?”

“I injected her with an experimental serum. The doctor who runs CADMUS formulated it from Kara’s blood. She figured out a way to isolate the components of Kryptonian blood that help accelerate their healing ability. The serum provides the recipient with a-a watered-down version of that ability.”

Alex caught the slight widening of Carter’s eyes and the way his muscles tensed along his neck. “Why would you inject that into my mom?”

“The doctor at CADMUS hurt her in a way we didn’t know how to stop and we were running out of time.”

“So-so now she can heal like Kara?”

“So far, yes. It’s a slower ability for your mom, and we don’t know anything about its limits yet. CADMUS was just starting to test those.”

She frowned as she considered once more all the unknown variables to which she’d subjected Cat.

“How—how did you know what you injected her with wasn’t going to make her worse?”

“Because the doctor at CADMUS made me her test subject.”

Alex startled at the fear that surged through Carter’s whole countenance.

“Hey, it’s okay, Carter. I’m okay.”

She sat up next to him, pressing a hand flat against her sternum. “I’m okay,” she repeated. “The doctors here put me through all kinds of tests after we were sure your mom was going to be okay. They confirmed that the serum is doing exactly what CADMUS wanted it to do.”

Continuing to ignore the memories of those hours spent at Dr. Luthor’s mercy was becoming a struggle she ultimately knew she would lose. However, she would keep fighting for as long as she could and hope when she finally fell to them, it would be a private surrender.

Her hand trembled as she reached for the boy’s shoulder. “I made a really tough call for your mom, Carter. If you want to be angry with me for it, it’s okay. I swear to you, though, I never would have done what I did if I thought your mom had any chance of surviving without it. But I also was going to do whatever I could to save her life.”

When he fell unnervingly quiet, Alex felt her breath seize in her chest.

“So, my mom would have died without the serum?”

Swiping her tongue nervously over her bottom lip, she answered, “I believed so, and so did the doctor in charge of your mom’s care.”

The answer smoothed the creases wrinkling his forehead. To Alex’s surprise, he wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her fiercely. “You saved my mom—just like Kara.”

The brunette blushed as she felt her chin quiver from the emotion of Carter’s words. “Kara’s not the only bad-ass in the Danvers family, you know.”

His hold on Alex tightened at the coarse edge he heard in her voice at the mention of Kara. “It’s okay to be scared. Mom tells me that all the time. She says it’s how we deal with our fear that really matters.”

He shifted slightly, letting Alex keep her arms around his shoulders. He refused to look up, nervously twisting his fingers in his lap. “We-we can keep each other from getting too lost in our fear—if-if you want.”

She brushed back his curls, earning a lopsided, shy grin. “It’s a deal.”

His next words, however, drew a soft gasp and emotion she couldn’t blink away.

“Would it—would you mind if I called you Aunt Alex?”

Only when he started to lower his head more and shrink away from her did she realize he’d completely taken away her ability to speak—and he was now drawing conclusions from her silence she could never allow.

Alex gently hooked a finger under his chin, only stopping him from pulling away but letting him continue to avert his gaze. She recognized how he had done the same at Kara’s bedside when Eliza had brought him to see her while his mom slept.

Both Danvers women had stood aside as he cautiously held one of Kara’s hands, eyes pale with sorrow, stance stiff with fear. Alex could see he only looked at Kara’s blank features for the briefest of moments before shifting to stare at their joined hands.

And then he had leaned close, the sun lamps’ harsh light accentuating the dark circles under his eyes. He kissed her cheek and whispered in the softest, most plaintive voice, “Please don’t be gone from us long, _ieiu_.”

Beside her, Eliza’s lips had parted slightly, a soft sound of sadness slipping out on her exhale. Even Alex had felt the sting of anguish in her eyes as she had watched, wanting nothing more than to find a way to comfort and keep him safe while his mother—while his _mothers_ recovered.

“Actually, I think it would be more fitting if you called me _,ahlehks, aiahv_.”

The shift in Carter’s mood was instant, his whole being brightening with joy Alex couldn’t help but laugh to see.

She listened to him carefully repeat the words and asked, “Would you like to learn Kryptonese?”

“Could I?”

“Of course. I think Kara would love that.”

Rising from the platform, she took his hand and easily tugged him to his feet.

“I’ll ask Winn if he can load my data crystal onto a DEO-encrypted tablet for you—it’ll be like your own special Kryptonese Duolingo.”

He laughed at the thought as Alex wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led him toward the exit.

When they reached Kara’s room, they found Dr. Hamilton sitting in front of Cat. Maggie still sat beside the blonde, holding one of her hands. Alex could see in Cat’s eyes an unbidden vacancy that deeply concerned her.

The doctor shifted her attention from her examination of the blonde in acknowledgement of the arrivals.

Giving a cursory nod toward Alex, she directly addressed Carter. “Mr. Grant, I’m Dr. Amelia Hamilton, chief medical officer here at HQ. I’m going to be taking over your mother’s continued care here at the DEO in addition to Kara’s.”

“Where’s Dr. Iovino?”

Hamilton raised her gaze toward Alex, much more conveyed in her steady stare than she allowed in her words. “Dr. Iovino asked me to take over Ms. Grant’s care.”

Alex stiffened at the simple, straightforward response, hearing the unspoken implication: Iovino was on investigative leave, just as she was. “Amelia—”

“Agent, we can speak in private after I’m finished here with Ms. Grant.”

Maggie caught the careful dismissal and the corresponding apology in Hamilton’s observation of Alex. The brunette stood down, her jaw muscles clenching tightly to keep from responding.

“Dr. Hamilton, how is my mom?”

Shifting her gaze from Alex to Carter, she stated, “She’s becoming increasingly non-responsive. Considering your mom’s medical history, combined with the traumatic events she’s just been through, however, her current state is not unexpected.”

Carter took a seat on Cat’s other side and turned toward the doctor. “How are you going to treat her while compensating for her accelerated healing?”

Catching the matching surprise on both Hamilton’s and Maggie’s faces, he held Cat’s hand and proudly replied, “Alex explained my mom’s new ability to me. I also understand her anxiety disorder and PTSD are biological _and_ psychological, which means her enhanced healing ability is only going to deal with part of what she’s going through right now. That’s going to make it more difficult to properly medicate her.”

Hamilton turned to face Cat, noting Alex’s proud bearing as she watched the boy. “You’ve got quite a son, Ms. Grant.”

Even though Cat didn’t react to the direct address, Hamilton continued to speak to her. “I know right now, you’re going through a lot of emotional processing and it’s overwhelming. We’re going to start with a low dose of Ativan and slowly increase until we can find the right dosage for what’s happening to you at the moment. After that, we’ll see if you still need your Lexapro.”

Rising from her seat, she looked to Carter. “I’m going to be right back with the medication.”

When he nodded and mumbled a soft thanks, she pivoted and headed for the exit. Alex didn’t need any signal to know to follow.

Outside Kara’s room, Hamilton surprised the brunette by continuing to walk away. Once they were three doors away, she finally slowed to a halt.

“Lisa didn’t do anything wrong.”

The CMO nodded, knowing Alex wouldn’t fight for herself—but she would always come to the defense of others without hesitation.

“Dr. Iovino requested this leave until you both can go through formal inquiry.”

She saw the surprise slacken Alex’s jaw, saw the rebuttal already forming. “Alex, what you did saved Ms. Grant, but broke about ten different safety protocols—not to mention the ethical ramifications.”

“But Lisa had no part in my decision!”

“That’s not what she’s saying, and until Director J’onzz and I can review the footage from the OR and collect statements from those on duty during the incident, we have to take her at her word.”

Pressing her lips together, the CMO drew in a deep breath through her nose. When she finally exhaled, she gripped Alex’s shoulder. “I understand why you did it. I really do. I’d damn well do the same for any member of my own family.”

Unable to say anything further on the subject, Hamilton slowly released her hold before moving on past the brunette.

With a shaky exhale, Alex slumped against the wall. Staring down the hall, she knew she needed to return—knew Cat and Carter both needed her almost as much as she knew Maggie needed to keep her in sight and under observation.

Though Maggie had been careful, Alex was just as well-trained in covert surveillance as the fierce detective. She had felt all of Maggie’s subtle stares and thorough scans as fully as the spreading warmth of sunshine over her skin.

However, the vast emptiness left by her sister’s missing vibrancy and light made returning a thought she hated herself for dreading.

Slipping into the nearest exam room, she dropped to the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs. With her forehead against her knees, she shivered against the encroaching strangle of her thoughts and fears.

She could still feel the serrated stab of her mother’s words as they held each other outside the OR.

_“Kara is in a coma. I don’t know what else we can do for her.”_

The confession stripped them both down to a level of helplessness they had always relied on science to absolve.

There was no absolution this time—only the oppressive uncertainty of Kara’s current state.

Alex once more curled her fists tightly, striking them against her shins until the physical pain left her unable to focus on the much deeper, much more overwhelming emotional precipice on which she teetered.

“Keep it together, Danvers,” she growled, pushing herself to her feet with furious swiftness. Refusing to indulge any further doubt, she threw open the exam room and marched back toward Kara’s room.

The moment she returned, she caught the quick shift in Maggie’s posture as she relaxed back in her seat. Giving Carter’s shoulder a soft bump as she passed, she settled in on the other side of Maggie. Without hesitation, she reached out and entwined their fingers together in a secure hold. Even in the midst of so much darkness and uncertainty, she still felt the flutter of joy in her stomach at the sight of Maggie’s dimples settling in with an easy smile.

Hamilton returned as promised, injecting Cat with a starter dose of Ativan. The CMO addressed a question to her directly, but her attention fixated once more on Kara’s slack features—on eyelids drawn over eyes that had seen so much suffering, and yet had retained enough kindness and light to outshine one world’s loss and another’s cruelty and injustice.

But now her light was shuttered and Cat was certain the darkness was going to crush her.

Still, she kept her silent vigil from the painfully exacted distance Alex had set for her, to keep Cat safe from the sun lamps shining down constantly on Kara. She let those around her dote on her in ways she knew showed their love and concern—ways she felt unworthy of in those bleakest moments when her mind magnified the memories of CADMUS until Kara’s screams were all she could remember of her hero.

Those moments would finally break and release Cat to whatever brief respite her body would allow her before her brain would once more short-out her defenses. However, true to Alex’s promise that she would take care of Cat while they waited for Kara to awaken, she knew she would always find someone by her side, be it Carter, Alex, Eliza, or Maggie.

Or, if she were to trust her own admittedly unreliable observations, an ever-changing cavalcade of caretakers, constantly dropping in to check on Kara and offer her whatever comfort they could: Jaime, J’onn, Leslie, Winn, Lena, James, Lucy—the time she thought Lois Lane had joined her in her vigil was when Cat was convinced she’d finally come completely unpinned from reality.

It was enough, though, to imagine the comfort of Lois’s arms wrapped securely around her, holding her so tightly Cat wondered if the dark-haired reporter could somehow magically hold her together in _every_ way. Without lifting her head, Cat shifted until she was comfortable and closed her eyes.

“I’m so tired, LoLa.”

Lips brushed against her forehead before words whispered warmly against her skin. “She’s a fighter, KitCat. She has fought for everything she’s earned on this ass-backward little planet of ours. Even now, in whatever way she can, I know she’s fighting to come back to us—to _you_. To her home.”

With a deep sigh, Cat allowed herself to sink willingly into the arms around her. As she once more gave in to the exasperatingly constant pull of exhaustion, she swore she heard Lois’s quavering voice entreat, “Don’t you dare make me a liar to her, Little Bird.”

Opening her eyes once more, what felt like days later, she sat upright as her son leaned into her, one hand clutching her sleeve. At the sound of the door to Kara’s room opening, she felt Carter lift his head from her shoulder and, shifting her gaze enough to see who had come in, she watched him offer a tired though welcoming grin.

The Man of Steel made his way across the room, standing between the Grants and Kara’s bed. He smiled in a way that always sparked embers of recognition in the young boy’s mind, though he could never make the memory completely catch fire. “Carter, how are you and your mom doing?”

Thin shoulders covered by an achingly familiar crimson fabric hitched slightly but refused to slump. “Mom’s having a quiet day,” he offered, his gaze shifting hopefully over Cat’s face in search of some sort of response.

Clark watched the boy’s devotion to Cat. He hadn’t known the blonde as a mother during their time together at the _Daily Planet_. However, his interactions with Carter had given him all he needed to understand about how deeply Cat had devoted herself to the task of raising a kind and smart son.

He turned away with a fond smile that all too quickly shifted at the sight of Kara. Her features were never meant to be so still and, even with his superior hearing, all he heard from her chest was a disquietingly faint flutter of movement. Lifting her hand within his own, he whispered a prayer before kissing her knuckles.

Shuffling sounds caught his attention just as Carter moved to his side. “What—what did you just say?”

“It’s a protection prayer to our god Rao. I’m asking him to keep Kara safe as she decides what journey she must take next—whether it be back here to us or to Rao’s waiting embrace.”

Carter began to ask another question but held his thought to himself as he watched Superman turn to observe his mom. Once more, something in the Kryptonian’s penitent gaze spoke to that deeper, familiar connection Carter struggled to name.

Blinking owlishly several times as he watched the Man of Steel, he flashed to the memory of a photo his mother had kept framed in her home office as far back as when she was still married to his father.

At that point in his life, he’d never seen his mom look as happy as she had been in that picture. She and Lois Lane were in the center of the shot, arms wrapped around each other, the widest smiles splitting each of their faces. Behind them, Clark Kent flashed bunny ears against their heads, his own grin charmingly goofy and his blue eyes bright behind his thick black frames.

Carter had stared often at the photo over the years, always perplexed at how his mother could look so happy in the company of those the tabloids wanted him to believe she hated.

She would always wave away his bewilderment with a switch of her fingers through the air and a stern reminder never to believe everything he read.

_“Never take something as infallible just because it’s in print, darling—unless it’s in one of my papers.”_

Then one day, the photo disappeared—and the next day, _CatCo_ magazine ran its first cover story on National City’s own superhero.

Superman’s cousin, in many ways the same, in many ways so much more, with her endearing smiles and her blue, blue gaze.

Just like _his_.

Curiosity slipped into comprehension as he continued to follow the Kryptonian’s revealing familiar observation of his mom.

“Is there a prayer to help her make her decision?”

Superman startled at the question—startled even more at the unexpected perspicacity he now saw in the young boy’s steady gaze.

With a single shake of his head, he explained, “The choice must be willingly made without influence. Rao would have it no other way.”

“What happens if she chooses to go to Rao?”

“Then, ah, then there is a-a different prayer, to guide her once more into Rao’s light. By Kryptonian custom, she needs a _zh inah_—a female heir to lead that prayer.”

“Would that be Alex?”

“It could be.” Eyeing Carter with almost apologetic hopefulness, he added, “Under the circumstances, though, Kara’s _zh unah_ could lead the prayer.”

He hesitated, waiting for Carter to meet his gaze fully. “I understand from Alex you’re learning Kryptonese?”

The gleam of reflected light from the sun lamps shifted across Carter’s pupils as he sneaked a peek toward his mom before answering. “I-I just started a few days ago.” He blushed. “And I’m not very good at it yet.”

The Kryptonian managed a sheepish grin. “Neither am I, to be honest. Alex is far more at ease with the language—I’m sure she would give you pointers, especially with proper pronunciation.”

His smile faltered, his voice coarsening. “She had the best teacher in any galaxy.”

Carter allowed the ensuing silence to unfurl with gentle flourish around them, understanding the anguish too strong for even the Man of Steel to bear alone.

Clenching his fists against his growing nerves, Clark finally asked, “Would you like to learn the English translation?”

The Kryptonian relaxed when Carter nodded after only a brief hesitation, following Clark’s lead with an understanding and willingness for which he would forever be grateful.

“You have been the sun of our lives. Our prayers will be the sun that lights your way on the journey home. We will remember you in every dawn, and await the night we join you in the sky. Rao’s will be done.”

From where she sat, Cat shifted, her unnervingly glassy stare sharpening instantly. She looked up at Kal-El with a vicious glare that rattled his nerves but bolstered his resolve.

“When it’s time, you could say the prayer for Kara with me. We can help her find her way back to Rao’s light.”

The scrape of chair legs against linoleum interrupted Carter’s response as Cat pushed herself to her feet. Oblivious to all else, she stalked across the room until she stood before the Kryptonian. Golden shards blazing with untamed rage, she snarled into his face, “Don’t you _dare_ teach him that!”

“Kara needs her _zh unah_ to guide her into Rao’s light.”

“She needs us to guide her home.”

“That is what the prayer of the de—”

“ _Home_!”

Fists crashed into his shoulders with such velocity that he almost didn’t have time to shift, to make her blows fall upon yielding flesh rather than shatter upon his immovable frame.

“You teach him words to bring her home—here to us! She is coming back, and if there is even one shard of doubt within you, then get the _fuck_ out.”

By that point, a crowd of agents had gathered outside Kara’s room, equal parts stunned that Cat had finally broken her silence and that she was now unleashing fully upon Superman.

And then the agents watched as the Man of Steel bent to one knee, supplicant in his contrition to this force of immeasurable strength and unshakeable devotion. Head hung and eyes downcast, he nodded his understanding, his capitulation to her unbroken belief. “I am sorry, Cat.”

Movement from the doorway drew his attention, though he noted peripherally how Cat had already begun once more to withdraw, fury quickly dimming at the too-real truth of the too-still form lying under the sun lamps.

Lois marched across the room from where she and Eliza had stood outside the room, stepping into Cat’s line of sight and placing her hands on the smaller blonde’s shoulders. Even the lightness of her touch was too much, the normally proud line of Cat’s shoulders falling first before the rest of her began to crumble.

“Not today, Grant.”

Thin fingers clamped around Cat’s biceps with surprising strength, hoisting her upward out of the slump into which she’d begun to sink. The action startled the blonde, drawing a leonine glare to the surface with surprising ease. Lois grinned at the familiarity, even more at the resilience of spirit she could see rallying within the shadow of Cat’s despondency.

Maintaining her grip on the blonde’s arms, she leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “Go get your girl, KitCat.”

Bowing her head for a moment, the blonde drew several deep breaths, each one stronger than the last. Beneath her grip, Lois could feel muscles shifting, straightening Cat’s posture, leveling her shoulders, until finally raising her head with a voluminous exhale.

Lois met Cat’s gaze, so relieved by what she saw awakening within her. “There you are.”

The dark-haired journalist released her grip, certain Cat no longer needed the support. With one final nod, she shifted her position, giving Cat a clear path to Kara’s bed.

Those within the room watched as Cat stalked toward the bed with strides confident and swift. She hesitated only a moment, her eyes shifting upward toward the perpetual glow that had kept her from Kara’s side for too long.

With a ferocious shove and a furious growl, she pushed the sun lamps aside. The motion imbalanced them enough that they crashed to the ground before anyone could catch them. The sound of splintering glass reverberated through the air, but Cat paid it no heed.

All she could focus on was climbing up onto the bed beside her hero, curling herself around the eerily still body, and pressing her cheek against Kara’s shoulder. Fingers tangled in the short top Kara wore, grip tightening around a fistful of fabric until her knuckles blanched white under the strain.

The sound of the smaller blonde’s first sob set Eliza into motion. Blinking to refocus her quickly blurring vision, she took Carter’s hand while gesturing to clear the room of everyone else inside. Feeling the reticence stiffening his movements at the thought of leaving his mom, Eliza leaned close and offered him as much of a smile as she could.

In a soft but emotion-roughened voice, she explained, “It’s going to be all right, sweetie. But we need to give your mom some privacy, okay? She needs to let this out.”

Silenced by his own sadness and fear, he managed to nod once. Tears released from his eyes and Eliza caught the quiver of his chin as he tried to hold himself steady against the force of his mom’s sorrow.

They shuffled softly out of Kara’s room, Eliza tugging shut the door behind her. It made no difference; every agent in the med bay could hear the ragged pain of Cat finally breaking.

Not one agent in the med bay had dry eyes.

Not one agent cared.

Clark stared solemnly at the door to Kara’s room, refusing to invade the private moment with his X-ray vision.

“I shouldn’t have pushed her that hard.”

“You damn well should have.”

He turned at the sound of Lois’s rebuke, preparing to respond. However, Eliza cut him off.

“Lois is right—and so were you both for wanting to try this.”

Eliza had initially thought Lois and Clark’s idea to reach Cat by angering her had been nothing more than a hopeful “Hail Mary.” She initially had wanted to shut down the notion, not wanting to get their—or possibly Carter’s—hopes up for something that would most likely have no effect on Cat at all. She quickly understood, however, that Lois had gone through something equally horrific with Cat once before—something that cast haunted shadows through Lois’s gaze and made Clark hold her while quietly beseeching Eliza for help.

Emotion had spiked through Lois in a surge of frustration as she hid within the shelter of Clark’s arms. “I know it’s a long shot and might not change anything at all. I just-I can’t see any of that Cat Grant fire right now—and that scares the shit out of me.”

Eliza had needed no further convincing to commit to their attempt to draw Cat out of her spiraling darkness with the spark of genuine anger—an art Lois claimed was far more difficult than most people assumed, based on the CEO’s mercurial reputation. It was Clark, however, who had clenched his jaw, his eyes turning glassy with unexpected regret as he had announced, “I know what to do.”

With the truest smile to touch her lips in more days than she cared to count, Eliza finished, “Cat needs to let out some of what she’s holding in right now. You did the right thing to push her.”

Sniffling and swiping the back of his hand across his eyes, Carter shuffled beside Eliza. He stood tall beside her, though, as he studied the Kryptonian. “Kara needs her family, but my mom needs her friends more than ever right now—even ones who think glasses make a convincing disguise.”

Clark faltered nervously at the young boy’s observation. Beside him, however, Lois smiled fondly. “You are _definitely_ Cat Grant’s son.”

Carter did nothing to hide the pride he felt at Lois’s statement.

The reporter held out a hand to the boy with a quirk of her lips. “Why don’t we head over to the mess hall for a while?”

She glanced sideways toward the Man of Steel. “We’ll tell you some of the best stories of your mom’s days with us in Metropolis.”

Seeing Carter’s unwillingness to leave, Eliza leaned in so she could meet his worried gaze. “I promise, sweetie, I’ll stay right here and look after your mom and your _ieiu_ , okay?”

As he stared at the closed door to Kara’s room, he tugged his bottom lip between his teeth for several pensive moments. Finally, however, he slid the cape from his shoulders and, without a word, handed it to Eliza. He then allowed Lois and Clark to lead him away.

From the opposite end of the corridor, Alex and Maggie rushed through the gathering of agents. “Mom?”

Eliza turned toward her older daughter and Maggie, instantly assailed by a barrage of questions from Alex.

“What the hell’s going on? Where’s Cat? Someone said she punched Superman? Is—is _he_ okay?”

Huffing at her daughter’s naturally unconventional humor—so like Jeremiah’s irreverence—she confirmed, “Everything is fine. Cat had some—feedback for Kal-El. Now, she’s with Kara.”

Alex drew a sharp breath. “Kara? Is—is she—”

To settle her daughter, Eliza wrapped a hand around her forearm. “Kara’s condition hasn’t changed. Cat’s did, however. She—she needed to reconnect with Kara.”

The blonde smirked as she finished, “Which reminds me: The DEO will need to invest in some new sun lamps for your sister.”

A bewildered crinkle marred Alex’s forehead. Maggie gripped her other arm and began to tug her away. “It sounds like Cat’s going to need some time alone with Kara, so why don’t we go get some rest?”

The brunette’s lips twisted in protestation, but Maggie refused to relent. She had quietly watched Alex dismiss her own needs—for sleep, for mourning, for fear or rage, for anything other than constantly tending to Cat and Carter and rebuffing any offer of rest or relief.

Exhaustion stained the skin beneath eyes Maggie could tell struggled with increasing frequency to focus. Her body curved into a perpetual slouch and Maggie was certain she could easily overpower the agent—which was a temptation that grew stronger the longer Maggie watched her refuse to take care of herself.

“Danvers, don’t make me take you down in front of your mother.”

An amused snort from Eliza cut off Alex’s comeback as her cheeks flared brightly.

Not wanting to lose any momentum, Maggie paused long enough to press her lips against one flushed cheek. “Come rest with me, Alex. We’ll just be a few halls away, okay?”

Even as she sighed, Alex relaxed into the detective’s resumed pull, shuffling off behind her. As Maggie began to turn forward, she caught Eliza mouthing _thank you_ , and quickly averted her gaze with several rapid blinks and a shy smile.

When she no longer could hear Cat’s cries, Eliza softly treaded back into Kara’s room. With reserved moves, she immediately dimmed the overhead lighting at the sight before her. Cat had indeed cried herself into a deep sleep. Even unconscious, however, she curled protectively around Kara, her smaller form surrounding the hero in her embrace. Their fingers tangled in a tight grip that Cat rested across Kara’s abdomen.

Eliza shook out Kara’s cape and spread it over the sleeping duo. Relief smoothed her brow at how the smaller blonde barely moved in response. With one final look, the scientist moved once more out of the room, content knowing Cat had at least several hours of much needed sleep ahead of her.

The door slipped shut with a soft click and it was quiet once more.

The constant darkness of heavy eyelids meant no measure of time or sense of surroundings. When she finally began fearing it was too much to keep fighting or that nothing remained worth fighting for, she heard it.

It had crashed through the unending silence with a thunderous roar as was only— _right_. The words jumbled and broke and bled and tore, and made no sense beyond the strain of fury and fear she could feel through to her marrow, but all she needed was in the sound itself. In the voice that kept her tethered, kept her safe, kept her loved.

This voice that would finally bring her home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tricksy one to write. I originally wanted it completely from Cat's point of view, but I realized I needed to pivot (pi-VOT!) at least a few times, to get in some integral moments for Alex and Carter as well as some exposition. However, I did my best to stick with Cat as much as possible. I also wanted to write her scenes in a disjointed manner, to accentuate her struggle with the new landscape of her anxiety disorder and PTSD thanks to her enhanced healing abilities. I hope I wrote what she's going through in this chapter in as respectful and honest a way as possible. 
> 
> Oh, and a quick timeline check: The preceding CADMUS chapter occurs at some point toward the middle of this chapter. I knew I needed to post it before this chapter, however, considering what Dr. Luthor mentions about Siobhan (which we'll get into more in the next chapter). I'm jumbling the puzzle pieces a little, but I promise, they'll all fit together in the end ;-)
> 
> One more thing: Anyone familiar with _The Death of Superman_ knows that many believed what actually happened to him when everyone thought he died was his body went into a healing coma from the brutal beatdown he got from Doomsday. It was actually a lot more complex than that, but I like the idea of the Kryptonian healing coma more than I liked the actual explanation--so I went with that for this story.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations and awakenings galore are in store for our heroes...

Soft shuffling passed by once more outside the closed door of the officers’ quarters. Maggie tilted her head toward the sound, her eyes adjusting in time to catch shadows slipping along the line of light beneath the door.

At her slight movement, she felt Alex shift further into her side, a wordless grumble piercing the otherwise quiet room. The detective held agonizingly still until she heard Alex’s breathing once more deepen and slow. She knew their time alone was on a short countdown to ending, but she wanted Alex to get as much rest as possible from what was left.

Sleep, when Maggie had finally gotten the brunette to settle down beside her the previous night, had turned elusive and then utterly untenable. Alex practically thrummed beside her, a downed wire surging with unfocused energy. She tossed and turned for the better part of an hour before finally sighing and curling up onto her side facing away from the detective.

After several minutes of stillness, Maggie exhaled the breath she had unconsciously been holding. With careful movements, she rolled over as well, conforming to Alex’s back. The moment she made contact, however, she felt the brunette’s control give way at even the barest touch.

Their bed shook as Alex began to tremble, her arms crossing and locking against her chest as she tried to curl even further away from Maggie. The detective slipped her own arms around Alex’s waist, pulling her back from the edge with gentle, steady pressure.

She offered no promises or platitudes—Alex knew and deserved better. Instead, she pressed soft kisses against the tense line of the brunette’s shoulder and whispered simply, “I’ve got you.”

Alex gave no response for several minutes, her steady tremors slowly decreasing in strength but remaining constant. Maggie increased the strength of her own hold, relieved when she felt Alex move back into her arms.

“What was Blue Springs like?”

The soft, unexpected question jolted her. Feeling defensiveness already beginning to stiffen her muscles and lock down her thoughts, she leaned her forehead against Alex’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

“It’s no Midvale.”

She felt the brunette’s humoring huff and knew she saw through the deflection as easily as Maggie would have in the reversed situation. She knew Alex wouldn’t press—would allow her as many deflections and reprieves as she needed. She also knew, with a certainty that scared her, that she didn’t want to keep deflecting this time.

For the first time since she was fourteen, standing on the road outside her aunt’s house where her father had dumped her and a bag stuffed with all she was allowed to keep, she realized she wanted to trust someone—not just with the censored bits of her life but with _all_ of it. The beautiful and the broken, given with the faith she thought she might never find within herself again.

With a deep breath, she finally lifted her head enough to whisper into Alex’s ear. “It was a barely-there dot on a map even when I lived there. I suppose some might describe it as quaint or bucolic. I always saw it as a nowhere town with ‘somewhere else’ aspirations.”

“Did it have corn?”

Maggie honestly laughed at the question. “Is that what they teach you coast dwellers about Nebraska?”

She felt Alex shiver with a soft chuckle. “It is called the ‘Corn Husker State,’ isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she finally acquiesced, “it had corn. The whole damn state has a lot of corn.”

“Does your family still live there?”

Even though she knew Alex couldn’t see her, she shrugged her initial response. She knew from her aunt that her parents did still live in Blue Springs—had remained even after her aunt had packed up and moved to Wichita a few years after Maggie had left.

The more closely she considered the question, however, the clearer her answer became.

“No.”

Alex rolled over, a curious furrow forming along her brow as she looked at the detective. Drawing a finger softly along the crinkle, Maggie said, “My family is right here.”

Even in the darkness surrounding them, she could see the shine in Alex’s eyes. The sight unlocked the last of her hesitation, released her grip on all she had taught herself to withhold out of self-preservation.

“When Lena told me Henshaw had taken you, I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep going—how I was supposed to figure this out without you—and I got—it-it really pissed me off. I’m not supposed to-to _need_ someone.”

She bowed her head, too afraid she might catch something in Alex’s expression—some warning she had once again misjudged and was opening herself up to what she knew would be more pain than she could bear this time.

The fear of Alex’s unknown fate those long, tortuous hours she’d gone missing, however, had been a far more excruciating pain—a fire that had raged until it had purged Maggie of all else except the purified perfection of her truth.

Clenching her eyes shut as tightly as she could, she said with a voice certain and scared, “I love you, Alex.”

Long fingers sifted through her hair, tipping her head back enough for Alex to see her face. Catching the tight draw of Maggie’s eyelids, Alex leaned in until she knew the detective would be able to feel her closeness. Hovering a breath’s caress away from lips she ached to kiss, she whispered in return, “I love you so much, Maggie.”

Still unwilling to open her eyes, Maggie instead surged forward, swallowing the echo of Alex’s words with desperate intensity. When she heard herself whimper into Alex’s mouth at the feel of her need returned tenfold, she rolled enough to tuck Alex beneath her.

The way Maggie surrounded her so wholly gave Alex a sense of safety she realized she hadn’t truly felt since her rescue. Beneath all the worry and attention she had given amply to Kara and Cat and Carter, she had felt the constancy of her own panic, shredding through her with poisonous intent.

But in that moment, in the arms of the first person to make Alex feel _real_ , she knew it would be okay. She would be okay, because Maggie would never let her fall without giving her a safe place to land.

As they continued to kiss, Maggie noted the warm wash of Alex’s tears against her lips. Winding her arms around so she could tangle one hand into brunette locks and press her other against the small of Alex’s back, she hugged her fiercely.

Even as Alex buried her face against Maggie’s neck, she felt her control crashing in a way she knew she couldn’t stop. Exhaustion had left her defenseless as memories of CADMUS shoved through the cracks, a deluge of agony and terror exploding through her with pounding force.

The desolate keen to finally escape decimated Maggie in its wake. It was a suffering that defied any description, filling Maggie with righteous fury that anyone had caused Alex such unforgivable pain.

“You don’t have to keep any of this inside, Alex. You can talk about whatever you need to. I promise, I’m here to listen. I’m not going anywhere.”

The words that followed poured out in a stuttering, breathless rush of incomprehensible cruelty. As Alex described what she had endured during Luthor’s testing of the serum with alien viruses—how one virus had filled her veins with searing pain while another had accelerated her heart rate so quickly, it felt like it was one beat away from exploding each time it clenched in her chest—Maggie held fiercely to the sobbing brunette and let her own tears flow.

When silence, punctuated by their overlapping sniffles and hitching breaths, stretched for several beats, Maggie wondered whether Alex had exhausted herself beyond speech.

A pain-hushed voice finally rose from the woman clutched within Maggie’s hold. “I thought—when I heard Kara in the next room, I thought I was hallucinating.”

She swiped angrily at her cheeks. “When she started begging Dr. Luthor not to hurt her—I-I could hear her—could hear how scared she was—”

Maggie pressed her lips to Alex’s forehead as the brunette sobbed repeatedly, “She _begged_!”

The two lay together, Maggie pulling Alex fully into her hold as if she could somehow physically shield her from the pain ravaging her heart.

“She begged, and Dr. Luthor hurt her anyway! How could someone be so cruel?”

“I don’t know, Alex.”

Muscles stiffened and shook with rage. “She called Kara a-a lab animal—said she never belonged anywhere other than Henshaw’s DEO, even when she was a child!”

It took Maggie several moments and deep breaths to shove aside the revulsion Alex’s words conjured. When she finally found her voice, it was laced with the steel of her conviction.

“Kara belongs with her family—you and Eliza and all the people who love her. I can’t imagine my life anymore without _both_ the Danvers sisters.”

Alex shuddered at the way Maggie’s words lit a memory.

_“Then let me help make it a true blood bond.”_

Her swallow knocked hard against her throat. “I’m scared, Mags.”

Maggie didn’t need specifics in the moment. All she needed was in the wobble in Alex’s voice as she whispered words the detective knew were a gift of trust she would never dishonor.

“I’m right here, Alex, no matter what.”

The promise loosened the brunette’s stiff posture, letting her sink completely into Maggie’s arms with an exhausted sigh. When silence finally blanketed them, the detective pressed a gentle kiss to Alex’s temple and settled in for as much sleep as they could both finally steal from the waning nighttime hours.

The low murmur of voices from the corridor finally reached through the sleepy haze in which Alex had remained. With a full stretch and a content growl, the brunette rolled onto her back. Eyelids took their time sliding back, cinnamon irises quickly shrinking as her pupils sought more light in the dim quarters.

“Hey,” Maggie greeted, her smile sideways and dimple-deep on one cheek.

“Hi.”

Alex frowned at the dry strike of her voice. As her memory cleared, her frown deepened. Maggie could see the shadows of recent events once more reclaiming the brunette. So, too, could she see a fresh fear furrowing the smooth skin of Alex’s forehead.

With a careful shift, the detective sat up into a cross-legged position as she watched Alex push up to lean against the wall. She remained quiet, letting Alex wake up more and sort her thoughts.

Finally, the brunette pulled her legs in, tucking her knees as close to her chest as she could. Hands gripping her shins and gaze pointedly focused down toward the bed, she stammered, “About—about what we said last night—or-or this morning, I guess.”

The words made Maggie’s insides clench with a familiar regret.

Oblivious to any change, however, Alex continued to blunder forward with her disjointed thoughts. “I just—I know you probably weren’t—I mean, I know you said it first, but-but things have been pretty dramatic and—maybe we shouldn’t have—or-or _should_ have but not—not _never_ but not—not like this? I’ve just—things are really emotional all around and that might have made you feel pressured and—you know—I-I’ve heard that relationships that start under intense circumstances never last.”

Fear broke into surprise as Maggie processed the final, barely mumbled words of Alex’s rambling. Amusement quickly followed. Leaning forward and gripping one of the brunette’s hands to steady her, she tipped her head to the side with a teasing smirk. “Danvers, did you really just quote _Speed_?”

A thrilled shyness rouged the brunette’s cheeks as she sneaked a quick glance up toward Maggie. “You have Colonel Onatopp. I have ‘Wildcat’ Annie.”

Fear completely erased, Maggie moved forward on her knees and wrapped her arms loosely behind Alex’s neck. “For the record,” she replied, “our relationship _is_ still new, but we’re not quite ‘Annie and Jack’ new.”

The brunette failed at suppressing her grin as she leaned her cheek against one of Maggie’s arms.

The detective tempered her amusement for her next words. “I meant _everything_ I said, Alex. I love you—and I’m honestly terrified by that, but I can’t imagine _not_ loving you or having you in my life.”

The joy to brighten Alex’s expression was far too short a gift before the darkness of worry and fear descended once more. Her jaw ground shut tightly for a beat, as though furious at whatever words were trying to escape her. She knew, though, this was a burden she needed to share before its weight broke her.

“It’s been more than a week since Kara went into _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_.”

Maggie nodded at the statement but held her response as she watched Alex’s frown deepen. “There’s been no sign of her getting better.”

“But also no sign of her getting worse.”

Alex looked up, her eyes bright with misery. “But the organs Dr. Luthor biopsied aren’t healing. What if she’s permanently damaged? She-she might never be the same—”

“We’ll still love her the same.”

“But love can’t fix everything.”

“No, it can’t. But it will be the best place to start, no matter what happens when she wakes up.”

Seeing how little her words did to soothe Alex, she tightened her hold. “Tell me,” she whispered, knowing there was more the brunette needed to purge.

“I’m scared for Cat—and-and for me.”

“So am I,” she quietly confessed, drawing Alex’s full attention. “But I know everyone here at the DEO is going to do everything they can to take care of you both. How many tests have they already run on you?”

“More than I like,” the brunette half-seriously groused.

“And they’re going to keep it up until they’re sure you’re safe and healthy. And I’m going to keep making you sit through however many tests they want to run on you, from now until forever, to make sure you’re in my life the maximum amount of time.”

Maggie immediately recognized the shy quirk of Alex’s mouth. “So, you really do like me, huh?”

Tightening her grip, the detective tugged Alex closer, chuckling at how the brunette released her hold on her legs and leaned forward under the detective’s guidance. “Just shut up and kiss me, you nerd.”

Laughter painted her lips in warmth as Alex hastened to obey. With careful and thorough focus, the brunette made sure to make the remaining moments she had alone with Maggie as memorable as possible.

When she pulled back, she refused to fight the pleased crook of her eyebrow at the way Maggie hung in midair, lips still parted slightly and eyes still closed. “Jesus, Danvers,” she finally breathed, unfazed by the noticeable breathlessness lacing her words.

There was no missing Alex’s chuckle as she shifted off the bed and extended her hand to the detective. As she moved to follow, she couldn’t completely stifle her low groan at the way she could feel a stirring from Alex’s kiss, low in her belly. “Those are fucking lethal lips.”

With only a happy smile, the brunette interlaced their fingers and tugged Maggie along beside her. Making their way back to the med bay, she finally sighed, “After we check on Cat and Kara, I was thinking we could head to our places and pick up some fresh clothes—maybe treat ourselves with a shower using anything other than DEO soap.”

“Sure—but we could just go to my place. I’m pretty sure you’ve left enough clothes there for at least a couple fresh outfit changes.”

Maggie’s casual comment nestled in Alex’s brain with an unanticipated joy she couldn’t repress. “I think that—that sounds like a great plan.”

Smiling in reply, Maggie squeezed Alex’s hand more tightly as they continued onward toward their destination. A few agents were changing shifts, their singular focus conveniently affording a bit more privacy to the pair as they walked together through the main corridor.

As Alex swung open the door to Kara’s room, the detective startled at how quickly the brunette pivoted away from continuing inside. Instead, she grabbed Maggie in a two-armed tackle, dropping them both to the floor as double beams of heat vision scorched the air above them.

“Kara, what the fuck?!”

Maggie heard and felt the words as Alex ground them out, her body pressing Maggie down under her full cover. A scorched stench filled the space and she could feel the crackle of dry heat around them.

“What the hell just happened?”

The detective sneered at the clear tremble in her whisper.

“Well, my sister is apparently no longer comatose and just tried to barbecue us.”

Beneath the sarcastic reply, Maggie could hear a frantic tension vibrating through each word. She twisted enough beneath the brunette to see the glistening at the edges of her eyes as she looked toward the once more closed door.

Kara was finally awake.

Before she could collect her thoughts enough to analyze what just happened, both she and Alex stiffened in place at the sound to pass from behind the room’s door.

“Alex?”

The agent sprang up so quickly at Cat’s call, Maggie was almost convinced she’d levitated. Holding up her hand, she huffed softly at the strength of Alex’s pull to hoist her to her feet.

“Wait.”

The glare her plea earned was nearly as dangerous as what Kara had just unleashed on them. However, the agent halted her move to re-open the door.

“Just, be careful, okay? I like your head, and I’d like it to stay attached to your body—and preferably not on fire.”

Lips pursing before quirking into her familiar lopsided grin, Alex whispered, “Duly noted.”

From the far end of the hall, a group of agents arrived from around the med bay. Several stared with wide eyes at the still-smoldering burn marks in the wall beside the brunette, but some bore expressions that made Alex’s heart hurt from their unrestrained hope.

“Don’t come any closer. Just—just let me handle this.”

She watched the group shift backward, some nodding distractedly as they watched the door to Kara’s room.  
  
Alex cautiously reached out for the door knob. As she twisted, she pushed quickly while shifting out of what she figured would be Kara’s line of sight.

“Cat? Are you—is it safe to come in?”

A long sigh chased off the silence of the room. “Please come in, Alex. She’s not going to shoot again.”

Alex looked to Maggie with a frown at the odd phrasing and even odder tone in Cat’s voice. The detective shrugged, her eyes narrowing into a confused squint.

With a nervous swipe of her fingers through her hair, the agent stepped into the doorway. She stumbled and froze in place at the sight before her, Maggie crashing into her back with a soft _oof_.

Cat felt the tension coil through the body pinning her down in the bed the moment she detected the movement in her periphery. Tightening her grip on Kara’s face, she whispered, “It’s okay, my love. It’s Alex and Maggie. They’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

The hero remained still, though Cat could feel the strain shivering through Kara’s arms as she held herself up in her protective crouch over the smaller blonde. Blue eyes shifted sluggishly between her face and tracking the movement at the room’s entrance.

“It’s okay,” Cat repeated, louder for Alex and Maggie to hear as well as they both eased into the room. “Kara is confused. We’re not at CADMUS anymore, darling. We’re at the DEO. Alex and you and I are safe. _Not with CADMUS_.”

“Kara?”

Alex felt her legs threaten to buckle at the sight of her sister turning toward her, eyes once more bright with her heat vision—though with an unexpected flicker Alex couldn’t help but notice. Cat, however, continued to hold one hand against her cheek, continued to speak slowly and clearly for Kara even as Alex knew the skin she touched must have been scalding.

“Don’t, Kara. Don’t hurt Alex. I promise you, that is your sister. Next to her is Maggie. You are in the DEO. You are safe and surrounded by people who love you and have been waiting for you to wake up, including Carter.”

The final statement earned the response Cat hoped it would. Kara instantly turned back, her eyes losing their deadly glow. “ _,cahrtehr,_?”

Cat frowned curiously at the accented way Kara breathed their son’s name but nodded. “Yes, darling, he’s been here for both of us since the DEO saved us.”

The smaller blonde moved her hands until her palms pressed against Kara’s shoulders. Gently but persistently pushing upward, she said, “We can go find Carter together.”

Keeping one hand in constant contact with the hero, Cat carefully slid from beneath her. When she stood, she wavered under a rush of vertigo, steadying herself against the bed with her free hand. The sight pulled a wounded noise from Kara, who rolled off the bed, nearly stumbling to her knees with the effort, and grabbed hold of the smaller blonde’s face.

Cat flinched at the feel of Kara’s slightly uncomfortable grip, but she remained as still as she could while the hero scanned her features. When she began shifting her gaze downward, Cat understood her increasing panic.

Fingers interlaced with Kara’s as she slowly tugged against the hero’s grip. “The nanobots are gone, Kara. I’m not in danger from them anymore. I’m safe.”

Cat gasped in shock as Kara finally did fall to her knees in response, her arms locking around the smaller blonde’s waist, head nestled against her abdomen as she began to sob. Cat looked pleadingly to Alex, her hands instinctively running through Kara’s tresses in an attempt to calm her as the hero began speaking Kryptonese.

“She hasn’t spoken any English since she woke me up. She’s not—I-I don’t understand what she’s trying to tell me.”

Slowly, Alex moved closer, no longer worried about Kara’s reaction to her presence. The brunette focused on her sister’s words, thick and twisted with emotion, and she could feel her own sorrow surging within her as she translated what Kara was saying. “She-she’s begging you for forgiveness.”

Her sister’s agony wrapped around her heart in thorny tangles as she continued. “She would have rather Dr. Luthor had killed her than for you to have suffered so unforgivably.”

She felt Maggie move to her side, looping her arms around her waist for support as she struggled to force out the rest of the words. “She thinks you should want her punished for what happened to you because of her.”

Grasping Kara’s wrists with decisive strength, Cat urged her to loosen her hold on her waist. When she had enough room to move, Cat instantly slipped down to her knees. She could feel Kara try to pull away, to shrink from Cat’s presence, but she would have no part in allowing Kara to bear a shame that neither of them deserved.

“ _,kahrah, ,zor,ehl,_ don’t you dare pull away from me right now.”

She grabbed Kara’s face in both of her hands. “I need you to look at me. I will not accept refusal.”

She felt the shudder of struggle that passed through her hold on Kara’s face, but breathed a sigh and a silent prayer of thanks that she obeyed. In those beautiful blue eyes, Cat could see all the hero’s admonition and guilt.

“You will never again ask me to forgive you for this. You did nothing that needs my forgiveness or my punishment.”

She tightened her grip, struggling to suppress her own emotions at the hurt that choked from Kara’s throat and streamed from her eyes. “You—”

Words died on her tongue as she stared into eyes she thought far too many times she might never see again. With a broken whimper, Cat sank lower so she was sitting before Kara, her hands slipping from the hero’s face to rest against the flat of her chest. Needing more, she rested her head where her hands had been, the hard beat of the hero’s heart filling her with peace.

Closing her eyes, she felt Kara lift her into her arms and cradle her in the full wrap of her embrace. For the first time since those final moments together before Lillian had taken Kara away, Cat felt—not whole, but calm in a way that made her never want to leave the circle of Kara’s protection.

_“:zhaodh w rrip eh, ,kahrah,.”_

The soft whine Kara made in response preceded the sensation of her arms tightening around Cat until the smaller blonde swore she felt her ribs beginning to bend under the pressure.

Alex and Maggie watched in silence as Kara melded her body around Cat’s, her need for the smaller blonde’s closeness palpable and desperate. They both felt intrusive, but neither could bring themselves to turn away. The sight of Kara awake, even in a clearly confused state, was a balm to the painful fissures within them.

_“ieiu?”_

The women within the room shifted in unison at the sound of Carter’s arrival. Behind him, Eliza gently held his shoulders, encouraging him to wait until his mothers acknowledged his arrival. She made no effort to stop the tears falling from her eyes or to tamp down the achingly wide smile she wore as she took in the sight of her younger daughter, once more awake and aware.

When Kara reached out a hand toward him, Eliza instantly withdrew her hold. He launched himself across the room before dropping to his knees and sliding into the arc of the hero’s outstretched arm.

As she began to pull him closer, Cat pressed a hand against her bicep. With a kiss and soft nuzzle against the hero’s cheek, Cat urged, “Gently, _zhor te_. Hug our son gently.”

Catching the hushed entreaty, Alex noted how Cat had begun to hold herself stiffly, her lips pulled tight against a grimace struggling to surface.

Her sister’s slow, cautious movements split her attention as she noted Kara carefully tugging both Grants into her arms. Cat flinched at the movement, one hand tentatively pressing beneath her ribs on her right side.

“Kara?”

Her sister lifted her eyes sluggishly toward her.

“Why don’t you let go of Cat and Carter and let Mom make sure you’re okay?”

Cat flinched again as Kara increased her hold and pressed back as far as she could against the bed behind her. Carter heard the involuntary groan his mother released and saw the pain sparking in her barely open eyes.

Turning to look into Kara’s face, he softly entreated, _“sokao—, ieiu? ,ahlehks, aiahv osh? khahp osh?”_

Kara’s lower lip quivered as she stared at Carter, stunned at his gentle plea, spoken in carefully enunciated Kryptonese.

From her other side, Cat gripped her forearm and pushed against it, another groan escaping her as she did. “Please, my love.”

Kara turned toward the entreaty, her eyes watering in worry and bewilderment. Cat shook her head at the sight, instantly switching to hold Kara’s face between her hands. Breathing through the ever-lessening pain in her ribs, she promised, “I know you’re confused and afraid, Kara, but I swear on my life, you’re safe and I am _never_ —”

Her voice shuddered against the final word, her lungs seizing around its simple utterance. Afraid that if she started crying, there would be no calming her, she struggled through with a jagged growl as tears forced their way from her eyes.

“I am never going to let anyone hurt you again.”

From where she stood, Alex shivered at the raw conviction of Cat’s promise to her sister. Never, for even a fraction of a second, did she doubt the sincerity—or the dangerous truth of Cat’s words.

Releasing her hold on Carter, Kara once more drew Cat into her arms, trying her best to temper the strength clearly fluctuating through her body. Satisfied at the feeling of Cat shifting more deeply into her hold, she looked toward her sister. _“,ahlehks,?”_

In the stilted, uncertain utterance of her name, Alex heard the frightened young girl of years ago, with nothing of her own but a heart overflowing with loss and memories more horrific than Alex could ever understand. With careful steps, she knelt beside her sister. Reaching out, she placed a hand against her cheek, a small, grateful noise escaping her as she felt warmth once more radiating from Kara’s skin.

“I’m here, _i e te_—always.”

The hero leaned into the touch, her cheeks glistening in the room’s light. As they sat there, Alex slowly combed her fingers through her sister’s hair, watching how her whole body began to relax in response.

“I’ve missed you so goddamned much, Kara.”

The hero hummed in agreement as she submitted to Alex’s soothing ministrations. However, Alex could see the frown line between her sister’s eyes growing deeper—knew as the fog within her mind lessened, Kara would have questions Alex realized all too late she had no idea how to answer without upsetting her.

When she felt Kara grab her wrist to steady her movements, Alex relaxed into the grip and waited. She could tell by Kara’s intense stare, the Kryptonian was scanning the bones of her wrist and arm with her X-ray vision.

Cat listened as Kara once more began speaking Kryptonese in a rapid, frantic tone she understood better than any of the words being hurriedly fired at Alex.

The brunette calmly let Kara finish before she replied in Kryptonese Cat swore sounded just as fluent as how Kara spoke it. The smaller blonde strained to pick up the few words she knew, her breath halting the moment she saw Kara’s reaction to _“ghaoryth im dovrrosh.”_

The hero’s eyes glazed with a flood of tears as she struggled for shallow, panicked gasps of air. Turning to face Cat, a pitiful whimper rattled in her throat. When she spoke once more in Kryptonese, the smaller blonde shook her head, frustrated by her own limitations.

“Darling, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Kara frowned at the statement, and Cat wondered if she hadn’t actually realized she had been speaking only Kryptonese since waking up.

In surprisingly halting English, she finally asked, “ _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ how long?”

Carefully running her hands through unruly waves, Cat held Kara’s gaze and answered, “Nine days, Kara. You’ve been in _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ for nine days.”

Kara’s head jerked up at Cat’s words, confusion shifting with surprising speed into anger. Her fingers looped more tightly around Alex’s wrist, pulling an uncomfortable groan from the brunette. Holding up Alex’s arm as reason for her sudden rage, she growled, “How long?!”

Cat understood the hero’s confused fury. Tightening her grip in Kara’s hair, she regulated her voice to be low but sharp enough to reach through the hero’s anger. “Let go of Alex before you hurt her, Kara, and control your voice. I will not have you scaring our son.”

Alex nearly tumbled to the floor with how quickly Kara obeyed Cat’s stern reprimand. Carter, however, caught her. As he helped right her on her knees, he softly muttered, “No one disobeys _that_ tone.”

Kara shifted her gaze sideways, her cheeks flushing at Carter’s comment.

“Behave, young man,” Cat admonished while loosening her grip and gently redirecting Kara’s attention with a hand against her cheek. When she saw she had the hero’s full focus, she repeated, “You were in _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ for nine days, Kara.”

At the way Kara inhaled sharply, Cat could already hear her words of protest before she’d even spoken them. She quickly pressed an index finger against the hero’s lips. Kara froze in surprise and Cat flashed briefly on a memory that lifted her mouth into a slip of a smile.

“Still as addictive as it was the first time,” she sighed, her heart fluttering at the recognition she saw in Kara’s eyes.

With her finger still in place, she continued, “I will never lie to you, Kara. Do you believe me?”

Even though Cat could see confusion swirling in narrowed blue eyes, the hero slowly nodded.

“Good.” She tilted her head toward Alex, acknowledging what had sparked Kara’s disoriented anger. “There are things we need to talk about—but right now, you need to let Eliza take care of you. Please, let her?”

When Kara nodded again, Cat released the press of her finger against the hero’s lips, replacing it with a kiss. The smaller blonde felt the threatening crest of emotions within her at the chapped scrape of Kara’s lips against her own.

Knowing there would be no halting the deluge if the dam were to break, she pulled back enough to rest their foreheads together. She felt Kara’s arms return to her waist, pulling her into her protection. As if daring her own emotions to disobey her slipping resolve, she whispered, “I’ve been so lost without you, _zhor te_.”

_“,cathryn,.”_

The sound of her name, breathed with alien trills and royal flourish from lips too long still, released the last of her control. A sob chattered her teeth even as she buried her face against the strong line of Kara’s neck. The hero curved her whole body in response to Cat’s distress, covering as much of the small form in her arms as she could and resting her head against soft blonde curls. Even with her eyes closed, tears streamed down her cheeks.

When Dr. Hamilton arrived several minutes later, she carefully stepped into the room so as not to startle the hero or interrupt the moment of comfort she was sharing with her family.

The moment passed, however, at first sight of Kara beginning to tense at the sounds of other agents milling around just beyond the door to her room. Alex saw the fear flicker in her sister’s suddenly open eyes right before hearing another pained gasp from Cat.

Glancing at her mom, Alex nodded toward the entrance, her meaning clear. She heard Eliza quickly shut the door as she turned her attention back to Kara. She carefully curled her fingers around a flexed forearm.

“Kara, it’s all right. The agents outside are DEO. No one in this building is going to hurt you or Cat.”

Hamilton crouched where she stood, far enough away to be out of reach, and held out her empty hands in a show of good faith. “Kara, we’re all here to take care of you. My staff just want to know you’re awake and okay. We’ve—we’ve all been very worried about you.”

A small voice fluttered against the hero’s pulse point as Cat whispered, “Ask her how long, _zhor te_.”

At the feeling of Kara shaking her head, Cat pressed a kiss to the crook of her neck. “It’s all right, Kara. I never want you to be afraid to ask for what you need.”

With a swallow, Kara stared at the CMO, her brows tangling in fear and consternation. “Unconscious was I how long?”

Mentally translating and noting the confused syntax, Hamilton answered, “Today was the beginning of the tenth day.”

Tension she hadn’t even realized lurked between her bones bled away at the confirmation of Cat’s words—and her promise to always tell Kara the truth. She felt a sigh slip across her collarbones as her hold slackened around Cat’s body.

“Would you let me help Eliza examine you?”

Alex smiled at the careful way Hamilton posed the question—smiled even more through the sudden blur of her vision at her sister nodding and slowly floating up onto her feet. With careful moves and concentration, she sat Cat down on the edge of her bed and clambered up beside her.

The smaller blonde quickly entangled their hands, not even remotely ready to lose contact with her hero now that she was awake.

“Okay,” Hamilton breathed as she rose to full height. She glanced over at Eliza. “We should have everything we need for most of a full examination in this room.”

The bioengineer nodded, grateful to Hamilton for understanding without explanation how Kara clearly wasn’t ready to leave the solitary safety of that room just yet.

“Agent Danvers, would you please go tell Director J’onzz the good news? I believe he was ready to meet with you this morning anyway.”

Rising to her feet and tugging Carter up to his, Alex at first prepared to fight the request, not wanting to leave Kara so soon after her awakening. However, she paused, understanding Hamilton’s unspoken order: J’onn was finished with his investigation of her actions concerning Cat and the _kryptosanguis_ serum.

“Sure, I-I can go do that right now.”

As the CMO moved around the room, collecting the supplies they would need for Kara’s exam, she noted, “He will meet you in his office.”

Before she could leave, she caught the fearful furrow of her sister’s brow. Alex shook her head and smiled.

“Hey, it’s all right, _i e te_,” she soothed, taking Kara’s free hand the minute she reached for her. “I want J’onn to know you’re awake. Mom will take care of you and Maggie will stay with Carter while Cat stays with you, okay?”

She caught the way Maggie drew closer to Carter and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. When he leaned into her hold, she kissed his temple on instinct. Grinning at the hero, she agreed, “I’ve got the kiddo, Dynamic D. I promise, I’ll take extra special care of him while you get checked. We’ll take a walk over to Noonan’s—maybe smuggle a sticky bun or five out for you,” she teased.

At the sight of Kara’s whole face shifting from the darkness of worry to lighting up at the mention of her favorite second breakfast, Maggie chuckled. “Five sticky buns it is, then.”

Maggie and Carter began toward the door, Alex following a few steps behind. The brunette halted and switched direction, however, hurrying to her sister’s side. Kissing her forehead, she said, “I’ll be back as fast as I can. Just—just keep your eyes open for me,” she finished, realizing she was only partially kidding.

She watched long enough for Kara to give a hesitant wave to the group as they left. Alex quickly hugged her mom as she passed. She felt the shudder of repressed emotions through Eliza’s grip before she slipped away, softly whispering, “She’ll always find her way home, Mom,” and kissing her cheek.

In the corridor, Alex was immediately besieged by several DEO agents, quietly though impatiently lining the wall across from Kara’s door. Front and center of them all was Winn, his expression a perfect mix of eagerness and anxiety. “Is it true?”

Realizing the urgency in his voice might set off Kara again, Alex flicked her hands in a shooing motion toward the corridor junction several rooms away. Though baffled by the gesture, the agents obeyed. Once appeased by how far away they were from the hero’s room, Alex halted, resting her hands on her hips and focusing on the tech agent in particular.

“It’s true,” she confirmed. “Kara is awake. But,” she cautioned, choosing her words carefully, “she’s—she’s understandably out of sorts. My mom and Dr. Hamilton are examining her now.”

Her expression softened, eyes glistening in a way that matched many of the agents’ gazes, including Winn’s. “She’s nowhere near a hundred percent just yet, so it might be a while before you see her.” She gripped Winn’s shoulder, lips quirking into a small smile. “But she’s back. Kara’s back.”

On impulse, Winn threw his arms around Alex, startling her enough that her own precarious control over her emotions failed. Embarrassed by the hitching cries she could hear coming from herself, she ducked her head against his shoulder. She only realized afterward that some of those sounds were coming from him.

“She’s going to be okay, Alex. I know it.”

The scruff on his cheeks had grown out enough from all the time he’d been spending on duty that it was now soft against Alex’s palms as she held his face. Sniffling loudly, she finally said, “All right, everyone back to work. The DEO isn’t going to run itself.”

Agents scuffled off with bleary vision and appeased smiles, ignoring the fact that Alex was still on leave and really in no place to give orders. Winn flashed the trio a final happy grin—the first sign of anything other than heartbreak brightening his features in almost ten days—and, with one more wistful glance toward Kara’s room, spun and head back for Ops.

Alex wiped at her own cheeks as she turned toward Maggie and Carter. “I believe you two have a mission of mercy to attend to,” she joked, not caring in the slightest how rough her voice sounded. “I mean, I can’t be completely positive, but I’m pretty sure this is the longest Kara has gone without sticky buns since she moved to National City. Noonan’s might issue an APB soon.”

To the brunette’s surprise, Carter practically fell into her arms, wrapping her in a hug as close to Kryptonian as any human could manage. Though he was careful not to make a sound, Alex could feel every sob wracking his thin frame.

She pressed her cheek against his, whispering into his ear, “I know, kiddo. I know.”

When she felt Maggie’s arms loop around both of them, she gave in a moment longer to all the emotions cascading through her at warp speed.

“We’re going to take care of her, Carter.”

She pulled back, her hand gripping his chin. “We’re all going to make sure both your moms get whatever they need to keep getting better, okay?”

Carter swiped his sleeves across his cheeks and eyes, which Alex was absolutely certain would have made Cat cringe. When he nodded wordlessly, Alex kissed his forehead and released him.

Before the brunette could turn away, Maggie tugged her in for her own quick kiss. “Whatever happens with J’onn, you did the right thing, Alex.”

Nodding even while exhaling nervously, Alex stole one more kiss before backing away. “While you’re buying out all the sticky buns for Kara, could you grab me a cinnamon—”

“—crunch muffin,” Maggie quickly finished, to Alex’s amusement. “We’ll grab you a couple, and the largest black coffee they have—plus an Earl Grey tea and lemon blueberry scone for Doctor D. Gotta take care of _all_ the Danvers women.”

The laughter and words came spontaneously as the brunette sighed, “This is why I love you, Sawyer.”

Carter felt the jolt of surprise in Maggie’s grip and looked up just in time to catch the flush spreading through her cheeks and the diamond sparkle of her dark eyes. It took only a moment for him to understand the beautiful newness of Alex giving voice to her clear feelings for the detective.

With a soft chuckle, he teased, “Great, my aunts are as sappy as my moms.”

The shine grew brighter as Maggie met Carter’s honest gaze. The sharp twist in her heart deepened as she took in what he’d just called her.

As she stared at him, he recognized easily the disbelief he saw in her expression. He’d seen it far too often mar his mother’s features—understood too well the similar scars she bore from those in her past who had made her feel undeserving of kindness, devotion, or love.

He knew the best balm for such scars.

“Come on, Aunt Maggie,” he smiled as he wrapped his hand around hers and tugged. “We have a hungry Kryptonian to feed.”

Dark brows drew together for the briefest of beats as she soaked up Carter’s words with hungry elation. And then her forehead smoothed and her smile spread so wide that her dimples deepened as much as they could.

Alex watched with an equally massive grin on her face as Carter led Maggie away, feeling lighter in spirit than she had in far too long a time. Her momentary happiness, however, shifted with the realization that she still needed to report to J’onn.

Inhaling deeply, she squared her shoulders and headed toward his office. Several agents watched as she passed, hesitant to call out to her when they saw the determined set of her jaw and strong strides carrying her swiftly through the complex. When she rounded the final corner to her destination, she halted at the sight of Iovino approaching from the opposite direction.

Lisa nodded once, her expression frustratingly indecipherable to the brunette.

“I heard Kara woke up this morning. That’s wonderful news.”

Though the medic had never been one for effusion, Alex knew her words were sincere.

“There are some—complications,” she allowed, “but we’ll help her deal in whatever way we can.”

Iovino frowned at Alex’s wording. “Do you think Dr. Luthor’s damage is permanent?”

“I-I don’t know. Our mom and Dr. Hamilton are currently examining her.”

Understanding the unspoken frustration within Alex’s tone, Iovino replied, “I’m sorry you can’t be in there helping—but you will be soon enough.”

Alex huffed at the sentiment. “You really think this meeting is going to be that easy?”

“I think you made the call you knew would save Ms. Grant. Director J’onzz and Dr. Hamilton had to have taken that into consideration.”

Alex shook her head. “You shouldn’t be here with me, Lisa. You shouldn’t have involved yourself with my call.”

The medic drew up at Alex’s words, staring down at the brunette from her full height. “You were in _my_ OR, so, yeah, I should be out here.”

Alex held her response at the sound of J’onn’s voice on the other side of his office door. “Agents, please come in.”

Exhaling with noticeable apprehension, Alex opened the door and gestured for Iovino to enter. As she followed and tugged the door shut behind her, she focused on the dark gaze switching from Iovino to her.

“Please, sit down,” he stated as he leaned back, his chair creaking and popping with his shifting weight.

He watched the two agents sit stiffly before him. “Agent Danvers, I know you would much rather be with your sister right now, so I will make this as brief as possible.”

The brunette exhaled her relief before responding, “Thank you, sir.”

Though his expression remained unnervingly stoic, he hitched one eyebrow in acknowledgement. “Of course. Now, as you know, Dr. Hamilton and I have been investigating your decision to use Dr. Luthor’s _kryptosanguis_ serum on Ms. Grant.”

Shoulders shifted backward as Alex sat up at attention in her seat. “Yes, sir.”

J’onn nodded and shifted his focus. “And, Agent Iovino, you are here, by your own request, because you were the doctor in charge of Ms. Grant’s care and approved Agent Danvers’s decision.”

Iovino nodded, purposefully ignoring Alex’s frown, and calmly replied, “Yes, sir.”

“This was an informal inquest into this incident. You can request a formal review of the evidence if you would prefer.”

Alex glanced toward Lisa, seeking and finding confirmation, before both agents replied, “No, sir.”

At the easy agreement, J’onn proceeded, “In the past week, Dr. Hamilton and I have reviewed the OR footage and spoken separately to each agent present regarding what occurred during efforts to treat Ms. Grant after her rescue from CADMUS. All evidence and testimony confirms the diagnosis Dr. Iovino gave during her interrogation, of Ms. Grant’s condition as acutely deteriorating with rapidly diminishing possibility of reversal.”

Iovino nodded at J’onn’s pause, confidently replying, “I remain positive Ms. Grant would have died that day, regardless of our best attempts at saving her.”

“Ms. Grant’s readings as well as testimony from Dr. Ramirez and several other agents confirmed this.”

He shifted his attention toward Alex. “Ramirez and several agents also expressed their concern at their possible exposure to the viruses Dr. Luthor used on you to test the _kryptosanguis_ serum.”

Alex struggled against the urge to hang her head, still contrite regarding her disregard of that particular protocol. “I had no right to place them all in danger the way I did. That—that was a completely irresponsible action in my part.”

“Agreed.”

The sound of J’onn’s stern reply flinched through Alex, but she continued to maintain eye contact. “I gave each agent the option of filing a formal complaint against you for your actions.”

He settled into a more relaxed position. “None of them would even consider the offer.”

She exhaled deeply as she fought back the unexpected rise of relieved tears. “Thank you, sir.”

Bowing his head in understanding of the barely whispered gratitude, the Martian rested his hands flat against the desk top. “If neither of you has anything else to add, we can close out this inquest.”

Both agents snapped to attention, their expressions matching masks of bewilderment. “Close—but I—you—”

With a quick wave of a hand, J’onn silenced the brunette. “Alex, this inquiry was to identify specific actions and to determine if they required a punitive response. Our findings confirm that what you did was out of line with DEO protocols. You also crossed lines of medical ethics concerning the use of an experimental drug on Ms. Grant without her knowledge or consent. However, after speaking with Ms. Grant—”

“You spoke with Cat?” Alex’s eyes grew almost comically wide.

“Of course,” J’onn replied. “Did you think we would conclude this investigation without speaking with her?”

“But she’s not—I mean, she’s been so—she-she hasn’t been herself,” she finally mumbled.

The heat of chagrin flushed Alex’s cheeks, but J’onn shook his head. “I have been monitoring Ms. Grant’s emotional state since she awoke. I spoke with her during a moment where I was certain of her lucidity. She allowed no room for confusion with her response. She also had some extremely creative words for me when she learned we were investigating you for using the _kryptosanguis_ serum.”

The Martian actually shook at the last part, the memory of Cat’s exact threat if the DEO dared punish Alex something he wouldn’t be able to purge from his thoughts for many moons, he was sure. Even while struggling with the effects of the serum in question on her emotional balance, Cat Grant was a frightening force of nature.

Wanting to put the conversation behind him, he stated, “Needless to say, Ms. Grant has no wish to see you punished for your decision—and both Dr. Hamilton and I agree. The extenuating circumstances behind what you did make further remuneration unnecessary.”

A muscle twitched at the corner of his eye. “What you did saved a life that no one in this building is ready to lose, Alex.”

Gaze quickly shifting position so she was staring at the edge of his desk, the brunette quietly replied, “Thank you, sir.”

Wanting to give Alex time to regain composure of emotions he could sense still remained deeply frayed, J’onn turned his attention once more to Lisa. “Dr. Iovino, I’m reinstating you immediately.”

Catching the way Alex’s head instantly snapped up, eyes widening hopefully at his statement to the medic, J’onn steadied his expression. “Agent Danvers, you are released from investigative leave, but you are still on medical leave. Dr. Hamilton will need to release you from that.”

“But I need to help with Kara!”

“You _will_ help her—by being there for her as her _sister_.”

Both seeing and sensing the brunette’s churning ire, the Martian raised a warning hand. “You know you need medical clearance to return to duty, Alex. Even I have no power to override that.”

Alex closed her mouth, though J’onn could see her frustration flickering in her eyes. “Dr. Hamilton knows you will need her sign-off. She was prepared to run your final work-up today—”

“After she takes care of Kara,” Alex quickly inserted, her disappointment easily melting away in acquiescence to her sister’s needs.

Accepting Alex’s temporary appeasement, J’onn turned back to Iovino. “First order now that you’re back on duty: I need you to take charge of our newest CADMUS arrival.”

The Martian noted the way both agents’ faces blanched under the thoughts ripping through their minds. Lisa struggled to compose herself enough to ask, “She’s already back to butchering aliens?”

“No, our newest arrival is human.”

“Human?”

“Siobhan Smythe.”

The familiar name shuddered through Alex, her ears ringing with phantom pains just from the stories Kara had told her of the Silver Banshee. “Is she—did Dr. Luthor kill her as well?”

“We initially thought she had. However, Ms. Willis was unconvinced.”

He caught the way Alex leaned back as though buffeted by the surprising statement. “Wait. What?”

“Ms. Willis has apparently become the number one expert on all things Silver Banshee, thanks to sharing cell walls with Ms. Smythe. She confirmed Ms. Smythe is, indeed, suffering from the effects of some kind of curse she can only break by killing Kara.”

“Fuck that,” Alex snapped, grimacing when she realized she’d spoken her emotions aloud.

“Indeed,” J’onn replied, dark eyes twinkling at the brunette’s bold protective streak. “But Ms. Willis made a convincing argument that, if the Silver Banshee curse was linked to Kara, then Kara’s _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ might have affected Ms. Smythe in a similar way. When we checked her EEG readings, they were identical to Kara’s.”

“And now that Kara is awake?”

“Dr. Hamilton reported to me before she went to see Kara that Ms. Smythe was beginning to wake up.”

The Martian’s normally strong voice shuddered slightly on the hero’s name.

Alex nodded, biting her bottom lip as she considered the situation. “Who found Siobhan?”

“NCPD, but they contacted us when they recognized her and realized she’d recently undergone surgery.”

Seeing the beginning of a confused furrow on Alex’s forehead, he explained, “The skin along her throat is still healing from surgical incisions. On closer examination, Dr. Ramirez identified Dr. Luthor has replaced her vocal cords. He was able to match their DNA to the Ortrexian body we found.”

Closing her eyes, the brunette breathed through the sick way J’onn’s words punched her in the gut. She tried her best to keep it together as she focused her thoughts. “So Siobhan looked like a regular CADMUS body dump, correct?”

At J’onn’s nod, she asked, “What if Lillian Luthor thinks Kara is dead because she thought Siobhan was dead?”

J’onn sat at attention at the statement. “She would definitely view that as an advantage for CADMUS—more so if she’s also assuming Ms. Grant is dead as well.”

Gears of thought turning more and more rapidly in her brain, Alex offered, “This could be the opportunity Dr. Luthor has been waiting for, to bring CADMUS fully into the public eye without the obstacles of either Supergirl or the Queen of All Media. Plus,” she added darkly, “she could claim CADMUS has done the impossible: killed the Girl of Steel.”

As loathe as J’onn was to admit it, Alex’s statement hit a note of truth painful to hear. “We should loop in Ms. Grant on this conversation. I have a strong feeling she will have plenty to say on the topic of Lillian Luthor cashing in on Supergirl’s assumed death in an attempt to vie for public support.”

At Alex’s assenting snort, the Martian redirected his attention to Iovino. “Pull whatever staff you might need and assess Ms. Smythe’s condition. Now that Kara is awake again, we need to know what to expect from the Silver Banshee.”

Rising from her chair, the doctor gave a quick, “Yes, sir,” and hurried from his office, the door clicking swiftly back shut in her wake.

Alex turned her attention toward the Martian with an expectant lift of her brows. His indecipherable expression lasted for only a second before a bold, bright smile broke across his face, laugh lines spreading from the edges of his eyes toward his temples. Rising from his chair, he hurried around his desk so swiftly, Alex barely had time to rise to her feet to fall into his open arms.

Wrapping her in the security of his hug, he waited quietly, allowing Alex the moment she needed to understand how safe she truly was and to decide how she would use that safety. Soon enough, he felt the press of her forehead against his shoulder, heard the soft hitching of her breath, felt the warmth of her sobs through his shirt.

Not wanting to upend the moment in any way, he held her in silence—even as his own emotions marked trails down his face. Nothing could mar the moment, however, of feeling the relief of Kara’s awakening release Alex from her frightened uncertainty. He would hold her for as long as she needed—hold them both until their solid presence in his arms pushed away the specters of loss that shadowed him relentlessly through the centuries.

It was the brunette who finally pushed back from his hold, hands swiping her cheeks dry even as she blushed in embarrassment. Seeing shimmering lines on J’onn’s cheeks as well, however, calmed her quickly.

“I heard she tried to use _you_ as target practice for a change?”

Much-needed laughter flowed from her at his irreverent question. “Something like that. Thank god she was slow on the draw, so to speak. Immolation by Supergirl glare is not the blaze of glory I ever envisioned for myself.”

Sitting on the edge of his desk, J’onn indulged in a moment of his own laughter at Alex’s lighthearted comment. When the brunette once more settled into one his guest chairs, he sobered slightly. “How is she? Truthfully?”

Joy transitioned with a soft sigh into something more contemplative and concerned. “Confused. Scared. She thought she was still at CADMUS and she had to protect Cat.”

The image of Cat in clear pain from Kara’s too-tight hold flared in her mind. “She’s not in full control of her powers. Also, I don’t think her powers are at full capacity.”

The last statement stoked the Martian’s fury at what he knew Kara had suffered at CADMUS. “Because of the damage to her organs?”

Alex gave a miserable shrug after a beat. “I don’t know. Dr. Hamilton sent me here right after she arrived. She and my mom probably know much more by this point.”

“So go.” The Martian rested a hand on her shoulder, his hold gentle and comforting. “Be with Kara. Everything else can wait a little while longer. Take care of our hero.”

Feeling her emotions once more rising, Alex rose quickly and wrapped J’onn in one more massive hug. “We’re never going to get agents to listen to us if we keep being this sappy,” she sighed, reveling in the way her words shook him with laughs.

As she pulled back, her smile widened even more at how J’onn rested a hand affectionately against her cheek before she stepped back and turned to leave. “I’ll come back later with an update. With luck, she’ll be up for visitors soon.”

Outside J’onn’s office, Alex fought against the urge to run back to Kara’s room. The sight of her sprinting through the med bay, however, was not an image she thought would instill any degree of confidence in a staff already reeling from recent events. Instead, she struggled to maintain a moderately brisk stride back to where she desperately needed to be.

Reaching the room, she made a point of knocking before entering, not at all eager to duplicate her earlier experience with Kara’s heat vision. As she opened the door, she couldn’t help the smile to light her face at the sight of Kara watching the doorway with curiosity rather than fear. Even better was the way Kara’s whole body relaxed at the sight of Alex entering the room.

“Hey, _i e te_,” she smiled as she moved across the room and kissed Kara’s forehead. She watched as her sister blinked slowly, her expression never changing from a hazy contentedness that left her looking slightly unfocused. Brushing her hand through Kara’s still-unruly hair, she addressed Hamilton. “Looks like today is Danvers sister day for you, Doc. Director J’onzz told me to report to you for my medical clearance.”

As she entered data into her tablet, the CMO countered, “Lucky me.”

Alex hummed softly as she continued to comb her fingers through Kara’s hair. She watched as her sister leaned into the soothing motion, her eyelids dropping down over her liquid blue gaze with each stroke.

Next to Kara, Cat listed slightly to one side, her exhaustion clear as she struggled to maintain a solid hold on Kara’s hand. In her eyes, however, Alex saw a sharpness she’d seen far too fleetingly since their return from CADMUS.

In time, though, she noticed the odd way Cat was letting Kara hold her left hand rather than her right, which was closer to the hero. Focusing on the hand in question, she noticed how Cat had tucked it tightly beside herself, out of reach and mostly out of sight.

Once more addressing Hamilton, she asked, “While you and my mom finish here with Kara, would you like me to take care of Cat’s morning blood work? I can still draw blood, right?”

Mention of Cat’s name quickly popped Kara’s eyes wide open once more. Without stopping her movements, Alex shook her head and soothed, “It’s okay, Kara. You know we have standard treatment protocols here. Remember how many times I’ve drawn your blood?”

As Hamilton moved once more to Kara’s side, she offered, “We monitor everyone in our care, Supergirl—even civilians. I think it’s a fine idea for Alex to take care of Ms. Grant while we finish up with you.”

With a gentle squeeze to the hand she was holding, Cat drew the hero’s attention toward her. “It’s all right, Kara. We’ll only be gone a short while. By the time we return, Carter and Maggie might even be back with your sticky buns.”

A well-timed stomach growl surprised the hero enough she stuttered into silence as Cat released her hand-hold and slipped from off the bed. With a slightly lingering kiss to Kara’s lips, the CEO turned to follow Alex.

As soon as they were outside Kara’s room, Alex guided Cat down the corridor. She nodded to a passing medic as they moved. Speaking in a clear, soft voice, she asked, “Stewart, could you find me a couple of Supergirl’s energy bars? Maybe some juice, too? Bring them to Exam Room Three.”

Not waiting to hear Stewart’s response, Alex continued to lead Cat to the exam room she’d chosen. Inside, she pulled out a recessed step at the bottom of the exam table.

“Can you climb up?”

With tentative moves and a tight grip on the edge of the table for extra balance, she allowed Alex to help her lie down. As soon as she settled, Alex dragged a chair beside the table and sat. At first, she simply let Cat rest, suspecting she was running dangerously low on energy from her body’s healing expenditures that morning.

As she watched Cat’s eyes shift slightly beneath her eyelids, she finally asked, “How are your ribs?”

The smaller blonde kept her eyes closed. “I assume they’ve healed.”

“What else did she break while I was gone?”

The sigh was soft, the answer softer: “I think a couple of my fingers.”

The click of the exam room door opening halted Alex’s response. Agent Stewart walked to the brunette’s side, extending a handful of energy bars and a small bottle of orange juice.

“Thank you, Brandi.” She offered a small grin as the agent cautiously eyed Cat’s prone form. “We’ll be okay,” she assured as she set the juice bottle between her knees and started unwrapping a bar.

As Stewart exited the exam room, Alex broke off a bite from the energy bar and offered it to the smaller blonde. “I’m going to need you to eat at least half of this bar.”

The CEO pursed her lips in a pique of normalcy Alex thrilled to see. “I haven’t been to spin class or Pilates in more than two weeks and now you want me to eat half of a Kryptonian Snickers bar?”

“You’ll work it off in other ways,” the brunette snapped back. However, she quickly blushed at Cat’s arched brow, realizing too late the pure innuendo of her statement.

Fighting past the burn of embarrassment, she shook the piece of energy bar in Cat’s direction. “I don’t think I have the emotional strength right now to deal with thoughts of you and my sister ‘burning calories.’”

Even through her exhaustion, Cat still managed to find amusement in the brunette’s comment.

“Could you just eat this so we can move on to less-scarring topics?”

Cat sat up and took the morsel, giving it an exploratory nibble. Her face quickly reflected her dislike. “Let me guess: Kryptonian Snickers bars taste like _sokorath_?”

Alex snorted in reply. “Tastes like bitter shit, right?”

“I was going to say Lois’s tears every awards season, but your description is appropriate, too.”

The brunette sat in silence for several beats, watching as color once more filled Cat’s features. The smaller blonde slowly made her way through the rest of what Alex had given her to eat, her expression never shifting from one of mild disdain.

When she finished, Alex held out the orange juice. As the energy bar’s bitter flavor lingered on her tongue, the smaller blonde eagerly accepted the container.

“Can you wiggle your fingers for me? Prove to me they’re healing properly?”

Green eyes narrowed as Cat watched Alex over the curve of the bottle pressed to her lips before she chose to demonstrate the movement of one finger in particular.

“God, you’re surly,” Alex countered, utterly enamored of the glimpses of “peak Cat Grant” she was witnessing from the CEO.

Lowering the now half-empty container, Cat replied, “Tell me something I haven’t heard before, Agent Danvers.”

“Okay, Ms. Grant. Stop letting my sister break your bones. Is that one you’ve heard before?”

Cat’s cheeks darkened at the succinct callout. “I didn’t _let_ her. She wasn’t aware of her strength fluctuating.”

Alex shook her head, her natural overprotectiveness for Kara easily extending to the woman before her. “Cat, even with enhanced healing, you shouldn’t intentionally let yourself be injured, even when trying to help Kara cope with whatever is happening to her powers right now. First off, that’s what we like to call a really bad tactical plan.”

She reveled in the tongue click and massive eye roll her comment earned. “Second, Dr. Hamilton is still trying to understand the parameters of our new abilities. I don’t want to see you overshoot them and end up hurt more than your body can handle.”

Grabbing hold of the opportunity to divert the conversation, Cat asked, “Speaking of our new abilities, is it safe to assume you are no longer in danger of banishment from the DEO for shooting me up with Lillian’s serum?”

“All clear on the investigative front,” the brunette replied, her lips twitching at her next comment. “I have a feeling you’ll be pleased to know, whatever threat you gave J’onn when he came to speak to you actually scared him.”

“Good,” the CEO huffed. “Bringing me whole milk lattes carries _consequences_.”

Seeing the wheels of confusion spinning wildly in Alex’s brain, she waved away the thoughts with a familiar flick of her fingers. “It would have been far worse if I’d actually had to call on Olivia to intercede.”

“You-you threatened him with the _President_?”

“I merely encouraged him to see the flaws in his line of interrogation before Olivia came out here to help him.”

Something shifted in Alex’s gaze—something grateful and awe-struck. “You threatened J’onn with the President—for me?”

“Keep up, Agent Dangerous. You and Detective Dimples are deeply embedded now in the sacred Cat Grant circle. You both get the full benefit of my impressive pool of resources and my even more impressive intimidation tactics.”

The brunette shook her head once more, shoulders lifting in rhythm with her amusement as she stared at Cat. Unable to put her feelings into words, she instead rose and engulfed the smaller blonde in one of the hugs she reserved for Kara.

Surprise stiffened Cat’s posture before she allowed herself to relax into Alex’s embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re still here,” she whispered, knowing her voice would betray her if she spoke any louder. Cat’s response came in the increased strength of her hold.

The two parted finally at the sound of a soft knock on the exam room door. Both laughed knowingly as they wiped knuckles beneath their eyes. “Come in,” Alex called as she hopped up onto the exam table beside Cat.

Dr. Hamilton stepped in, quickly shutting the door behind her once inside. Eyes instantly landing on Cat, she asked, “How is your hand, Ms. Grant?”

The smaller blonde raised the appendage in question, catching the soft, expectant gasp from beside her before she chose to wave all her fingers at once that time. “All fingers functioning properly.”

Hamilton took Cat’s hand into her own and probed it carefully. “We should still X-ray it, just to make sure Kara didn’t chip anything. Same for your ribs.”

She caught the side-eye Cat shot toward Alex and forced back a smile. “I take it Agent Danvers already informed you how unwise it is to willingly accept injury even with your enhanced ability?”

“Consider me informed,” she sighed as she dropped her hand back to her lap.

“Good. Now, I thought it would be better to speak with you both about Kara without her being present.”

Alex’s internal alarms blared loudly through her thoughts. Hamilton caught the fear beginning to spiral wildly in her gaze. “Stand down, Agent Danvers. My overall report is that your sister is doing remarkably well for having just woken up from a nine-day Kryptonian coma.”

Undeterred, Alex pressed, “But?”

“We need to run more holistic scans, but the abdominal ultrasound your mother and I performed show Kara’s damaged organs are still in their post-CADMUS state. They haven’t shown any signs of regrowth.”

Easily reading the expressions before her, Hamilton offered, “Keep in mind, her body was basically in stasis while she was in _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ , adjusting to the damage she sustained. The true test will come now that she’s awake. I would say, however, if we don’t detect any change within the next forty-eight hours, we’re not going to see any.”

Alex’s gaze dropped down toward the floor, the feeling of Hamilton’s words like a thousand needles through her heart. Cat, however, refused to yield to her emotions just yet. “And if the organs Dr. Luthor butchered don’t heal, what will that mean for Kara?”

“For the moment, it will more than likely mean a change in how her body absorbs solar radiation. It won’t affect how much she’ll be able to store through her body, but it will affect how quickly she can recharge. It will also mean a decrease in how well she’ll be able to filter that radiation down into concentrated energy. She will see a reduction in her powers’ sustainability—and possibly strength.”

The flex of Alex’s fingers into fists distracted Cat’s attention long enough for her to feel the sting of Hamilton’s honest diagnosis. “Will it be a permanent change?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, Ms. Grant. We have no way of knowing how a Kryptonian body might compensate in such a situation.”

Expelling a massive sigh, the CEO tipped back her head and stared up at the ceiling for a slow count of ten. “Well, I can definitely confirm Kara has at least regained some of her enhanced strength. What about her other powers?”

“They’ve all returned in some capacity but, as I know you can also confirm, they’re fluctuating beyond her full control at the moment. But we can’t say whether that’s because of the organ damage or because of lingering effects of the _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_.”

Finally finding the composure to join the conversation, Alex leaned over, hands gripping her knees as she thought through her question. “What if—what if the _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ acted not just like a deep stasis but also like a hard reboot of her whole system into a-a sort of Kryptonian safe mode?”

“And that’s why she woke up speaking only Kryptonese and couldn’t remember how to organize her sentences in English?”

Grateful to Cat for following so quickly, she continued, “Or why she’s struggling with controlling her powers. It’s like—like the Earth updates to her operating system need a little extra time to load.”

“That could be a possibility,” Hamilton conceded. “She’s still struggling with syntax at the moment, but she did start responding more frequently in English than in Kryptonese.”

Watching the spectrum of emotions across each woman’s face, Hamilton stated emphatically, “Kara just woke up a few hours ago and she’s already shown measurable improvement. Let’s give her the next forty-eight hours and re-evaluate her condition then, okay?”

With a quick glance toward Cat, Alex hesitantly nodded. “Forty-eight hours. Fine.”

As the brunette slipped down from the table and extended a hand to help Cat down, Hamilton stared at them expectantly. Recognizing their confusion, she crossed her arms and queried, “Before you both head back to Kara, perhaps we should take care of that blood work you were supposed to start for me, Agent Danvers?”

“Oh.” Alex dropped her hand, shifting her stance and pulling a quirky, chagrined frown. “Yeah, hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

Hamilton moved quickly and efficiently through drawing the standard vials she’d been collecting every day from both Alex and Cat. “I’m interested in what your readings today will look like, Ms. Grant, and how your pain response and enhanced healing might affect them.”

“Live the dream, Doctor,” the CEO sighed as she finally slid down from the table. She still held the gauze in place over her injection mark, but a quick peek revealed the site completely unblemished. With a flick of her hand, she tossed the gauze into the nearby biohazard waste bag.

With a quick shoulder hitch and a happy hum, she departed the room, leaving Hamilton and Alex exchanging amused glances before the brunette trotted after her. From her position, she watched the CEO’s strides—confident and determined with a touch of what Kara had once described as her “cat walk strut.”

Alex snorted at her sister’s ridiculously accurate pun, joyful in a way she wanted to last as long as possible. Darkness, she knew, threatened along the horizon, but for the moment, she would cling to these small, stunning moments of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take on too much and end up taking too long. That's usually how it goes, right? Sorry for the delay. I've been juggling a busy summer, my SuperCat in July story (because procrastination is my friend), and a stubborn CEO who refused to cooperate with a couple plot beats I wanted in this chapter. I have to admit, though, she was right. They didn't belong here. 
> 
> I know this chapter ends with several things unanswered. I had planned for more--but when I wrote what's now the last paragraph, I realized quickly that I really wanted it to end with this small, beautiful moment of happiness for Alex and Cat. There's still so much left to wrestle with before the story transitions to its next major beat, but this felt right. We could all use a little more joyful moments. 
> 
> I've wanted a nice long Sanvers check-in for a while. I'm so happy with how this one presented itself to me. I feel really good with how they finally said those three words to each other. I've kept some of Maggie's backstory from the show (what little they gave her) for here, but I'm also trying my best to continue to develop her as an independent character as well as develop Sanvers properly and honestly. Sawyer and Sanvers both deserve it.
> 
> The Kryptonese Carter speaks to Kara translates to "Please, mother? For Aunt Alex? For me?" And Cat calls her "my heart" in Kryptonese.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara copes with waking to decidedly more than she is emotionally prepared to handle...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a line in this chapter in which Kara questions why her parents didn't allow her to die with them.

Silence had never unnerved her. Though she had chosen a career filled to excess with the chaotic swirl of boardrooms and ballrooms, cheering fans and jeering detractors, the quiet of her son’s company or the solitude of her thoughts were what she always preferred at the end of a busy day.

Perhaps it was a natural response to the drain of public life or the ingrained memories of being an only child alone in a house shuttered by loss and silenced by dispassion. Whatever the reason, Cat had always embraced quietude as a balm, a relief.

The silence surrounding her in that moment, however, was alarming and excruciating—the pin-drop vacuum of the second before every tragedy to ever unfold across the history of galaxies.

She looked to Alex and her concern edged dangerously close to panic. The brunette stared bemusedly down at her now empty hands, fingers poised as though still wrapped carefully around her sister’s wrists. Without looking up, she sighed, “Kara.”

Whatever trance Alex’s previous words had cast over the hero dissipated with the utterance of her name. Limbs unlocked with ungainly haste, body propelling from where she sat before realization could coalesce.

Cat blinked several times to clear the after-image of Kara’s retreat as she stared at the room’s open door, now embedded into the plaster behind it.

“Well,” she finally exhaled. “ _That_ could have gone better.”

The second sigh from Alex slipped into a softly expelled epithet as she stumbled to her feet and hurried toward the now empty corridor. As she stared blankly, a buzzing from her pocket set her fumbling to retrieve her mobile phone. Seeing the name, she flicked the line to life and snapped, “What is it, Schott?”

“Um, Ka-Kara’s in the detention area and she’s—it looks like she’s scaring the shit out of the agent on duty.”

“Dammit,” she snarled, breaking into a run down the corridor. She heard movement behind her and knew there was no way she could—or would—stop Cat from coming with her.

As the smaller blonde followed, she looked back and warned, “Carter, stay here with Eliza.”

She had heard enough of Winn’s statement to know this would not be a Kara she wanted their son to witness. Seeing the bioengineer grip his shoulders firmly to hold him in place, she turned back toward the direction Alex was now almost sprinting, knowing Eliza would keep watch over Carter.

Bypassing the elevators, Alex shoved open the stairwell door, her boots stomping a frenetic rhythm that Cat’s sneakers soon mimicked. They moved swiftly down the flights of stairs to the basement detention level, Alex marking with both worry and respect how Cat kept almost perfect pace with her much longer strides.

At the edge of the detention area’s open entrance, however, Alex blocked Cat’s momentum with an arm extended in front of her. One eyebrow hitching at the defiant glare she received in reply, she calmly announced, “Kara, Cat and I are coming in.”

She dropped her arm and spun around, entering the detention area with careful movements. Kara floated slightly off the ground, her fists pressing into her thighs as she glared down at the brunette. The agent on duty stood at the farthest side of the main area, eyes wide as he stared at Alex for help.

With a sharp dismissive gesture, Alex ordered, “Report to Ops and thank Agent Schott for letting me know I was needed here.”

As the agent scrambled for the exit without another look, Alex tilted her head back enough to meet Kara’s glare.

_“.nahn zhod w ta-”_

“English, Kara. You need to—”

“Where is he,” she growled, her eyes aglow with rage.

_“And you will bring no harm to any of the inhabitants of this planet, or I will find you and bring you to justice.”_

Cat could still hear the vow Kara had sworn the day she had discovered the Daxamite’s lies, and knew this was yet another in the litany of self-assumed failures the hero would insist on bearing alone. And in all they’d just told Kara—of who had betrayed them to CADMUS, of what she had heard and seen Alex suffering through from Dr. Luthor and her _kryptosanguis_ serum, and what Alex had subsequently had to do to Cat with the same serum to save her from the nanotech inside her—this was the first “broken” promise she would assume she could address immediately.

“He’s dead.”

Kara’s gaze latched onto Alex’s expression, anger pulsing downward into the faint glow of confusion. The brunette moved toward her, careful in her approach.

“Lar Gand is dead,” she repeated, stressing the final word in the hopes it would clear Kara’s mind of the vengeful fugue blinding her from reason.

_“ta-?”_

Ignoring Kara’s slip back into Kryptonese, she answered, “The Vi’itraavi—Eve must have turned Lar Gand over to Dr. Luthor before the DEO brought him back here. The Vi’itraavi was inside him. It did the same thing to his internal organs as it did to Garrick’s.”

Alex swallowed hard, even though she’d been spared actually seeing anything in person. Lucy’s descriptions of what she’d witnessed were enough—of standing with several other stunned agents outside a holding cell splattered bright blue from whatever had _exploded_ from the Daxamite’s chest. There hadn’t even been enough of the Vi’itraavi left for them to do a visual identification. Instead, they’d had to wait for a DNA match to the Fort Rozz records.

“We failed, Kara.”

The hero’s head tilted to one side as she slowly descended to the ground. Alex nodded in understanding of her confusion.

“DEO protocol is to scan incoming prisoners for threats, including biological ones, before putting them in detention. If they had scanned Lar Gand, they would have detected the Vi’itraavi. But there was so much confusion that day, and he was someone DEO agents recognized—standard scans were just one of many SOPs I’m sure were forgotten.”

Blue eyes disappeared behind closing lids as Kara tipped her head forward. _“tiv utoi?”_

“In the morgue. Kal-El—he said it was imperative we let _you_ decide what to do with it. He-he mentioned the Rite of Redemption.”

 _“zha,”_ she roared, eyes white with rage as they opened. Spinning toward the nearest cell, she unleashed her anger in dual beams that scorched bright marks across the back wall.

“Kara, enough!”

Cat’s stentorian order instantly shut down the hero’s heat vision. She kept her back to both Alex and Cat, however, her shoulders drawing higher with the growing tension through her body.

When she turned back to face Cat, both the smaller blonde and Alex inhaled sharply at the red, blistered skin slow to heal beneath Kara’s eyes. Cat stepped forward, stumbling to a stop when Kara flinched away from her approach.

With a forceful shake of her head, she whispered, _“dhehraogh nahnosi w rrip.”_

“Kara—”

The hero ignored the plaintive beseeching of her sister, floating once more off her feet. Her chin trembled as she stared down at Cat, shaking free teardrops that slipped down the sharp edge of her jaw.

_“khap i kigrhys voiehd.”_

Frustration knotted Cat’s gut at how helpless she felt—knowing from tone alone the damning burden of Kara’s words but having no idea what the hero had just confessed.

With the sound of a barely stifled sob, Kara sped from the detention area, a swirling current of air all she left behind.

Once more pulling out her phone, Alex dialed Winn, cursing the absence of the earpiece she always wore when on duty.

“Where is she now,” she ordered the second the line connected.

“She-she’s, uh, she’s in the room with her mother’s A.I.”

He groaned after a few more seconds. “She’s engaged her personal security protocols for the room.”

Pressing her index finger and thumb hard into the inner corners of her eyes, Alex clenched her other hand tightly around her phone, to resist the urge to slam it to the floor.

“Understood. Just—keep monitoring the room and let me know if you see any further movement from it.”

She listened long enough to hear Winn’s agreement before closing the line and dropping the phone back into one of her cargo pants pockets.

“What did she say to me?”

The brunette tensed at the question and struggled to meet Cat’s gaze. “She said you should be dead—and that’s her fault.”

Grim laughter slipped surprisingly from Cat as she turned away from the brunette. She interlaced her fingers behind her neck as she stared at the still smoking scars Kara had carved into the cell wall.

“Not letting this go, I see,” she muttered, shaking her head when she realized she’d spoken aloud. Without looking back at Alex, she asked, “How do we get to the A.I. room from here?”

“Cat—she’s locked herself in the room with security protocols that only I can override. She—maybe she just needs time alone.”

As Cat spun abruptly in place, she dropped her arms, letting them settle with the momentum of her turn. “She’s been _alone_ in _ghaoryth im dovrrosh_ for nine days.”

Seeing the penitent twist of Alex’s mouth, she huffed out her frustration. “I’m not asking you to open the door, Alex. I’m just asking to—I need to be there, with her. Even if it’s just to sit outside the room until she’s ready to let me in.”

The brunette heard the double meaning of the softly whispered final confession and slowly nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Wordlessly, Alex led her back to the bank of elevators they’d bypassed in their original run to the detention area. With a short ride up, she led the smaller blonde down the corridor that ended at the room Cat knew housed the A.I. projector.

Both women hovered tensely outside the door for several moments, listening as if they anticipated a riot of noise at any moment. When silence prevailed, however, Alex was first to break the hesitation.

“Do you want company?”

The CEO shook her head, her eyes never straying from the closed entrance before her. “Just keep Carter focused elsewhere for now, would you? I know Kara wouldn’t want to upset him.”

Alex swallowed back the desire to point out how Kara wouldn’t want to know she was upsetting Cat in any way either. Instead, she gave the smaller blonde’s shoulder a gentle bump with her knuckles as she turned and moved back toward the main corridor. Cat waited until she could no longer hear the brunette’s boots against the tiles.

Moving forward, she pressed first her palms and then her forehead against the door before her. In a voice low and soothing, she whispered, “Whenever you’re ready, my love, I’m here.”

Slumped on the floor at the base of the A.I.’s projector dais, Kara tucked her legs tightly to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins at the sound of Cat’s soft promise. She let her head fall forward against her knees, tears staining her sweatpants as she listened to Cat settle on the floor outside the door with a quiet exhalation.

The Alura A.I. watched the hero from where it had automatically activated at Kara’s arrival, its glow exacerbating the deep mar of Kara’s exhaustion upon her face. “Catherine Grant is outside this room. Why do you not allow her access?”

Rather than respond, Kara burrowed further into her own hold, fighting back the betrayal of her emotions.

 _“sokao—, ieiu,”_ she sighed, the familiarity of the same words Carter had spoken to her sharp against her heart.

At the sound of Kryptonese, the Alura A.I. adjusted its language to respond in-kind. /How may I be of assistance to you, Kara?/

The hero lifted her head enough to rest her cheek atop one of her knees. She stared at the A.I. interface, pondering its question. Her voice was fragile as a dying breath. /Tell me everything will be all right./

/I need additional information and context to reply to this request./

She blinked slowly to soothe the burn of tears in her eyes. /Never mind. Just—tell me something about Krypton./

/Please narrow the scope of your request./

/Tell me—tell me your favorite memory of us as a family./

The projection of Alura paused to analyze Kara’s words. /I lack the emotional context to extrapolate that information from Alura Zor-El’s memories./

Each of the A.I.’s detached replies stoked higher the fury within Kara’s heart. /Then _extrapolate_ how I stop the people I love from suffering because of me!/

She pressed a hand unconsciously over where she could still feel phantom pain from Lillian Luthor’s scalpel in her abdomen. /Tell me how to protect them when I couldn’t even protect myself!/

Rising to her feet, her body shuddering from the strength of her rage, she screamed, /Tell me why you condemned me to a world that could one day hate me so much, they would rather cut me up for spare parts than let me live among them! Tell me why this is better than just letting me die with you and Father!/

Emotions striking flint against the hard blue of her eyes, she shot her heat vision into the transparent shape of her mother’s image. /Why? Why couldn’t I have stayed with you? Why didn’t you love me enough to keep me?/

Sobs punched through her chest as she struggled for enough air to fill her aching lungs. /Why did you send me away?/

The A.I. observed the hero as she once more slumped to the floor, limbs settling in disarray around her as though her strings had been severed. When her head bowed forward, tears dripped straight down from her eyes, splashing hard against the tiles beneath her.

After several minutes of silent scrutiny, the A.I. stated, /You seek answers I regret I still cannot provide you./

The hero coughed out a wet laugh. /You _regret_?/

/If it provides you even some small comfort, then, yes, I will emulate regret./

Kara raised her head and swiped her hands across the damp line of her cheekbones. /You don’t need to _emulate_ anything for me./

/Then I ask again, how can I be of assistance, my daughter?/

The hero sat up, chin quivering at the unexpected familiarity of the A.I.’s address. /I-I don’t know./

She stared at the hologram, eyes scanning the uncanny valley of familiar features, desperately searching for what she knew the universe had long ago stolen from her.

Unable to deal with that shrapnel of truth embedded deep in her heart, she dropped her gaze and mumbled, /I don’t want to hurt anymore./

/When did you last honor Rao with the mantra of peace and strength?/

Kara stared at her hands clenched in her lap. Her first (and only) attempt at meditation on her new home planet had offered her nothing beyond memories of a world scattered beyond salvation and an emptiness she feared greater than even a god could fill.

/I haven’t—it-it doesn’t matter./

/You will always be a child of Rao, Kara, even beyond the reach of his guiding light. No matter where you are, you can speak his meditations and he will hear./

Her glare deepened the lines of exhaustion around her eyes. /And what? Will he answer me the way he has answered all my prayers to protect those I love? You and Father? Alex and Cat?/

The A.I. considered the question. /Rao _hears_ us wherever we are, but he _responds_ to us only as he deems best for our unique path. We cannot know his plan for us until he believes us to be ready./

/His plan for me? And has all the pain and suffering I’ve gone through been a part of his _plan_?/

/The strongest steel becomes so only by enduring the hottest fires./

Unfazed by the derisive sneer on the hero’s face, the A.I. finished, /And whatever awaits you next, my daughter, must require you to be stronger than you have ever needed to be./

With a bitter snort, Kara snapped in English, “Well, then, we’re all fucked, aren’t we?”

Ignoring the question, the hologram offered, “I can join you in reciting the mantra, the way Alura did your first time.”

 _Young Kara, dressed in her_ rrahdhuhs _robes, snuggled close to her mother’s side, tiny fingers latched around the burnished gold belt around Alura’s waist. She giggled softly at the feel of her mother’s fingers sweeping through her dark chestnut locks, blushing at Alura’s gentle admonishment to be on her best behavior. They knelt together in the meditation pose and began slowly and carefully to speak the words of Rao’s mantra before the entire congregation of Argo City’s Religion Guild._

Kara blinked against the sharp sorrow of the once happy memory and whispered, “Were you proud of me that day?”

The A.I. hologram mimicked tipping its head to the side and, to the hero’s surprise, replied, “I wish I had enough information to extrapolate an answer for your question, my daughter.”

Though her bottom lip trembled at the hologram’s reply, the hero squared her shoulders and nodded. Rising up to her knees, she settled back onto her heels and crossed her arms against her chest, her palms resting against her shoulders. With several deep breaths, she bent her head forward in supplication and let her memory take control.

_“.,rao, sokaofidh nahn w khuhp i herosh ni :divi .,rao, sokaokypzrhiges w khuhp i raogrhys”_

With each completion of the meditation, Kara felt her diaphragm tense more and more, turning her attempts at controlled breathing into shallow hisses of air. A lightheaded buzz began within her ears, louder than the sound of the words that clung belligerently to her tongue. No number of repetitions could settle the rising tumult of her thoughts, churning the darkness of her most nightmarish memories.

_Luthor’s sharp steel slicing repeatedly into her until her agony consumed her._

_The hummingbird flutter of Alex’s heart struggling against viruses no humans should have ever known._

_Cat’s pain-dimmed green gaze staring up at her with undeserved love and devotion as the nanobots wrought unceasing pain through an already fragile body._

_Cat’s fear-sharpened green gaze tracking her movements as she failed against the uncontrollable betrayal of red kryptonite’s rage within her._

_Microscopic twitches of muscle beneath Eliza’s eyes as she struggled through explaining how Jeremiah had become yet another loss to mourn—another sacrifice to secure her safety._

_The shocking pain of new powers overwhelming all her senses under the disorienting light of a yellow sun._

_Her mother’s arms crushing the last breaths of Kryptonian air from her lungs before shutting her inside her pod and forcing her away from the crumbling desiccation of her world._

_The bright, blinding blasts of Krypton’s destruction burned into her retinas, the final images of her home that would accompany her across the empty confines of_ vrosh :dokhahsh _._

_The silent eternity of her solitary entrapment—filling her, muffling the mantra she now chanted in gasping, broken dirges until she couldn’t hear any of the words even as she screamed them with air-shaking force._

Wordless pain, primal and raw, took control, shaking through her in tremors that curled her hands into fists and curved her spine until her forehead pressed against the cold tiles beneath her.

The Alura A.I. observed from the dais, a silent sentinel to Kara’s emotional shattering. Toppling onto her side with a wounded howl, the hero drew her knees to her chest and succumbed to tears that fell unceasingly until she could no longer fend off her exhaustion.

When unconsciousness did mercifully claim her, the last thing she heard was the lullaby of Cat’s heartbeat, constant and strong, right outside the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a relatively short one for how long it's taken me to post it. Originally the beginning of Chapter 6, I realized it deserved to be its own chapter. Kara is coping with a lot and even just the beginning of that coping deserves its own time and space. There's a lot of other things happening in what will now be Chapter 7. I didn't want this moment overshadowed.
> 
> That being said, I'm well into Chapter 7 at this point. So, have faith, denizens, LOL.
> 
> Rao's mantra of meditation and peace is the Doyle Kryptonian translation of Kara's meditation mantra from the S3 episode "Triggers."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CADMUS releases its clarion call for public anti-alien support and Cat suits back up to lead CatCo's charge in making sure the truth comes out above the lies.

In the dim light of the corridor, Eliza tipped her head to one side to quietly observe the woman before her. The smaller blonde huddled beside the entrance to Kara’s A.I. room, barely submerged in a shallow slumber. Eyes shifted rapidly beneath her eyelids and a worried furrow ran the width of her forehead. The blanket Alex had brought her earlier draped across her shoulders and down into her lap, covering her crossed arms.

Alex stood beside her mother, silently assessing Cat with the same affection and concern she could see in Eliza’s eyes. She had fought pointlessly with Cat several times throughout the preceding evening about sleeping in a real bed while Winn monitored the room from his post at Ops. Each argument had crashed against a stubbornness impervious even to her threats of forced sedation and removal.

_“You can’t just tranq dart me and haul me away like a leopard on the Serengeti.”_

While Alex had wanted to argue she actually _could_ do both those things, she also understood— _respected_ —how Kara had been right all along about Cat Grant: She possessed a willfulness not even the brunette might ever match.

With a guilty sigh, she finally knelt beside the sleeping form and gently shook her shoulder.

“Cat? Cat, you need to wake up.”

She had barely finished speaking before Cat jumped into consciousness with a startled gasp. Jade irises shrank around the flare of dilating pupils seeking light. Her back snapped and groaned in protest of her unexpected jolt, stiffness having long ago settled between every vertebrae.

Still, she forced herself upright, the quickly receding pain throughout her body easily ignored beneath the increasing throb of her fear-filled heart.

“What’s happened? Where is she?”

With a swift shake of her head, Alex wrapped her hand once more around Cat’s shoulder, the pressure grounding and firm. “Kara’s still in the A.I. room. She hasn’t made any more noise since the last you heard.”

The smaller blonde exhaled in relief as her head thumped softly against the wall behind her. It had taken Kara nearly three hours to calm down within the A.I. room. Each time long stretches of silence would settle, Cat refused to relax, something warning her Kara wasn’t yet finished purging her emotions that evening.

Only her own exhaustion finally overcame her need to keep vigil—an inevitable moment she was most certainly regretting not preparing for as she moved once more and groaned at the stiffness through her body.

“Come with me, Cat.”

Catching the shift of the hall’s limited light in the CEO’s gaze, the brunette gestured over her shoulder. “My mom will take your place here, in case Kara decides to come out, and Carter is with Maggie. I need you— _Kara_ needs you to come with me.”

Though she kept her voice as low as possible, she still glanced toward the A.I. room’s entrance, as if expecting Kara to appear at mention of her name. With a half-hearted shrug when nothing happened, she stood and held out her hand to Cat.

Understanding the smaller blonde’s reticence, Eliza moved to her other side and sank to the floor. “I won’t leave until either she comes out of there or you come back. I promise.”

Cat stared into eyes that reflected an understanding she found herself unable to refuse. Nodding silently, she slipped off the blanket and offered it to Eliza before reaching up and accepting Alex’s proffered hand.

As she hoisted Cat to her feet, the brunette smiled at the sight of her mother settling into place, just as promised. She looped the blanket around her shoulders, sighing at the warmth still infused through the fabric from the smaller blonde, pulled out a tablet full of research she wanted to review, and crossed her legs at her ankles. Cat glanced down at the sight, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Realizing the CEO still struggled with her need to stay close to Kara, Eliza urged, “Go on. We’ll be fine. They need you, Cat.”

The wording both confused and piqued her interest enough that Alex was easily able to tug her into motion.

In the main corridor, the smaller blonde followed Alex quietly, wincing at the pin-prick tingles where her legs had fallen asleep while sitting on the floor. She frowned as they continued toward a corridor she hadn’t been down.

At one of the doors, Alex paused, fishing a key fob out of her pocket. “This is my office,” she explained as she held open the door for the smaller blonde to enter first.

Inside, Cat noted a familiar garment bag draped over the back of one of the guest chairs. On the desk set one of the travel kits from her own closet, which she kept stocked for work travel with makeup, haircare products, and various shower gels and moisturizers.

Alex saw the smaller blonde’s eyebrows scrunch downward over her eyes. “Lucy just got back from your penthouse. I asked her to bring back what she thought you would need.”

“What—”

The brunette interrupted before Cat could even complete her thought. “CADMUS released a new video. It’s—”

Cat swore she heard a distinct crack from how tightly Alex clenched her mouth shut. Breathing deeply through her nose, the brunette stated, “It’s bad, and it’s getting worse so much faster than I ever thought it would. She’s definitely throwing down her gauntlet with this one.”

Before Cat could launch into the maelstrom of questions Alex knew was rising within her, she continued, “They released it at midnight our time—only this time it wasn’t just to National City. This one went to every major news outlet across the country. Lois said every paper on the East Coast is scrambling to get this in their morning editions.

“The DEO has been monitoring public response since CADMUS posted it. You’d think it would be quiet, being the middle of the night, but anti-alien chatter has been spiking on both coasts and all points in between.”

Once more, the brunette hurried onward before Cat could pose any questions. “I called James as soon as the video appeared and he said he would alert Snapper that all hands were on deck, ASAP. I’ve already sent a DEO retrieval team to bring them both here to discuss how CatCo is going to take control of this _fucked up_ message.”

Swiftly changing gears before Cat could pursue questions she wasn’t ready to answer, she pointed toward the garment bag. “I figured you’d want to look a little less like the latest DEO recruit in front of Snapper, so Lucy went to your penthouse and picked out something she thought you would prefer over sweats and a T-shirt.”

She lifted the travel kit. “She found this, too. You’re unsurprisingly organized to a fault.”

Disconcerting blankness prevailed across the smaller blonde’s expression long enough for Alex to worry she was once more struggling to right herself against her internal emotional tempest.

Finally, however, she straightened her posture and raised her head. Alex saw perfect clarity in her emerald gaze. In a voice calm and strong, she queried, “What time will James and Lucas arrive?”

Alex winced apologetically as she looked at her watch. “In less than half an hour.”

Taking the travel kit from Alex, she scooped up the garment bag and inclined her head toward the door with a telling hitch of her brow. “I once had ten minutes to prepare for a live interview with Slobodan Milošević after spending almost thirty sleepless hours in transit _and_ losing most of my luggage. You’re going to have to work harder than that to challenge me, Agent.”

Alex huffed at the jab, her gaze betraying her elation at Cat’s continued sharpness. Before the brunette led her out toward the nearest showers, she collected a shoe box from the floor and tucked it beneath her arm.

True to Cat’s word, the CEO made record time preparing for her meeting. When she exited the facility attached to the officers’ quarters with time to spare, Alex jumped up from her seat, mouth dropping open as she stared.

No longer attired in the oversized sweats and T-shirts the agents had been bringing her, the CEO now wore fitted black flare-leg pants and a scarlet asymmetric wrap top with cap sleeves. A double gold chain cinched the blouse at her waist. The shoes were glossy black Louboutin stilettos, accentuated with a kiss of blood-red lacquer along the soles.

Though she wore no jewelry, her makeup and hair were dangerously on-point, and Alex found herself blushing when she realized how long she’d been silently staring.

“I know, I clean up exquisitely,” the CEO quipped as she stopped in front of the agent and rested her hands high against the curve of her back. “Also, clearly, Baby Lane got the looks, the brains, _and_ the fashion sense.”

With a shake of her head and an indulgent smile, Alex reached into two of her pants pockets. In her right hand, she held a familiar gold mobile phone. “Lucy grabbed this off your nightstand charger. Winn scanned it first, to clear it of trackers or harmful programming.”

As Cat accepted the phone, Alex held out her left hand. Nestled in her palm was Cat’s ring. “She grabbed this, too. She said it was setting next to the phone and she figured you would want it.”

Alex felt the delicate shake of Cat’s fingers as they brushed her palm to retrieve the ring. The smaller blonde at first squeezed the jewelry in her clutched hand, taking in the solid dig of its many sharp angles.

When she released her hold, she hesitated, her gaze scanning the band with her older son’s name engraved into it.

Catching sight of the name she assumed Cat was studying, Alex offered, “Give him time, Cat. Family can surprise us—sometimes even in a _good_ way,” she added at the way Cat eyed her through the lattice of her lashes.

The CEO slipped on the ring and slid the phone in her pocket, ignoring for the moment the familiar vibration of the message notification.

“You mentioned Lois—is she still here? Or did she hop the red eye on Kryptonian Air to cover this from Metropolis?”

Gathering up the remnants of Cat’s whirlwind prep, Alex nodded toward the exit and easily fell into step beside the CEO. She noted the sharp strike of Cat’s heels against tile. “She asked Clark to take her back to Metropolis as soon as the video released. She’s going to Skype in for this meeting though.”

She snorted in amusement. “When she called to say they were back, I could hear Clark complaining how long it took them because Lois made him slow down so she could hear her Bluetooth.”

Cat clicked her tongue at the visual. “With her shrill voice, at least she knew the people on the other side of the line could hear _her_.”

“You know you can drop the act about Lois, right? Your secret’s officially out.”

With an indignant huff, the CEO replied, “What act? This is how we’ve always talked about and to each other. How else does one deal with a perpetual thorn in their ass?”

“I don’t know: Which one of you is the thorn and which one is the ass?”

Cat slowed noticeably to lock gazes with the brunette smirking beside her. With a twitch of a brow and the hint of a smile, she purred, “Oh, _touché,_ Agent Danvers.”

Alex laughed at the tone, at the familiar provocation, at the comfortable conversing—at the welcome, inevitable return of the Queen.

Drawing to an unexpected halt, the smaller blonde’s mood shifted, sobered. Alex frowned at the change but remained quiet as she watched Cat sort her thoughts.

“Thank you.”

“What—why are you thanking me?”

“You haven’t once given me the chance to ask to see the CADMUS video before our meeting.”

Seeing the apology brewing in Alex’s gaze, Cat held up an index finger to silence her. “You’re a soldier, Alex.” She waved her raised hand down the length of her body. “You know the importance of making sure protective gear is in place before sending someone into battle—even if one’s preferred ‘armor’ is Armani.”

At the flush of rose in Alex’s cheeks, Cat reached out to squeeze her forearm. When Alex met her gaze again, she saw the affection in the CEO’s eyes. “I’ve been so out of sorts since—since I woke up here after our rescue. This, as silly as it might seem to some—”

It was her turn to blush and turn away from Alex’s stare. The brunette smiled as she gripped Cat’s shoulder. “You and I—we might fight differently, but we both suit up for our battles.” Her gaze hardened. “And Kara needs you to be ready to lead the charge into _this_ battle.”

“Ms. Grant?”

The CEO and Alex both swiveled in unison at the sound of James Olsen’s curious beckoning.

The photojournalist shuffled closer, looking down with an embarrassed smile at his own hastily grabbed jeans and Henley, before glancing back up at Cat. Leaning against a cane he now gripped with both hands, he scanned the CEO from head to foot. He noted shadows of exhaustion hid below the concealer under her eyes and her cheeks hollowed noticeably beneath the delicate arc of her cheekbones. However, she observed him with her familiar leonine focus, emerald eyes alight with golden fire.

Losing himself to the moment, he wrapped his arms around her, his heart beating a worried tempo as he catalogued all the delicate bones he could feel beneath his hold.

“It’s—it’s _really_ good to see you.”

To his surprise and joy, he felt strong fingers flex and then tighten against his back as she hugged him in return.

Leaning back from their embrace but not stepping out of the circle of his arms, she glanced down at his right leg. “The cane is a dapper improvement to the crutches—but not a permanent addition to your attire, I hope.”

“Definitely temporary,” he chuckled. “The repair process is a bit more taxing than I expected, but I have assurances from everyone I’ve dealt with at Wayne Industries that this is the best treatment available for removing scar damage.”

He laughed at the sight of Cat’s knowing smirk. “I can attest from first-hand experience, they tell you the truth, Mr. Olsen. Just don’t ask them to explain its origin.”

“I won’t.” Shifting into an earnestness that surprised the CEO, he tightened his hold and stared into her curious gaze. “Thank you for—for whatever favors you called in or strings you pulled to help me.”

Though noticeably uncomfortable with such honest appreciation, Cat forced herself to accept it in the moment. “You helped save my life, James. Consider this a good start to my repayment.”

She felt the deep rumble of his laughter as he pulled her in for another hug.

“You two gonna finish your Hallmark moment any time soon?”

James laughed at the warm puff of Cat’s sigh through his shirt as she finally disengaged from their embrace. Shifting her attention, she cocked an eyebrow as she appraised the other newly arrived party. “Lucas. I see it’s true, then: You do sleep in your clothes to give them that freshly rumpled beat reporter charm.”

Snapper continued to stare at her with the eerily perfected dead-eyed glare she knew had unnerved hundreds of cub (and several seasoned) reporters to pass through his bullpens since their days together at the _Planet_. “Breaking news doesn’t give a damn about my wardrobe choices.”

 _“Quel dommage,”_ she replied as she breezed toward the conference room behind him. She nearly tripped to a stop, however, at the feel of Snapper’s grip suddenly surrounding her bicep, halting her in place.

Heavy-lidded gaze scanned the entirety of her face, narrowing more with each pass. When he didn’t find what Cat knew he was looking for, he gruffed, “What number are you up to now, _Nine Lives and Counting_?”

“So high, I stopped keeping score,” she rejoined, patting his hand in acknowledgement of his worry.

“Lillian took you,” he pressed, his expression darkening with frustration over seeing the puzzle before him but not the solution.

“She did—and there will be time enough to tell the tale. But right now, I understand we have other matters to attend to, thanks to her.”

It took Snapper several more seconds of what only Cat among them would recognize as studious concern before he released his hold with a grunt.

With a barely there nod, Cat turned once more, leading the way into the conference room. As she settled into the seat at the head of the table, she swiveled toward Alex. “Is Lane ready now to join us?”

Nodding, Alex focused on loading the Skype connection on the monitor behind Cat.

“Since when did CatCo invite competition to our meetings?”

Cat shook her head, golden curls brushing her shoulders. “No competition on this. We need to synchronize our message. We’re the largest papers in the only cities in the world Kryptonians call home. We have to put forward a unified front and make our stance clear: No one fucks with our heroes.”

“That’s a message the _Daily Planet_ is ready, willing, and able to co-sign on with CatCo.”

Swiveling in her seat, Cat faced the wall-mounted screen now filled with the image of Lois Lane. She struggled to stifle the relieved smile she felt threatening to betray her at seeing Lois and hearing her friend’s ready support.

“Have either of you even watched the video,” Snapper growled. “Because I’m fairly certain CADMUS’s message is even clearer: National City’s hero is _fucking done_.”

His words struck low and hard in Cat’s gut as she continued to hold eye contact with Lois. “I haven’t seen the video yet.”

Lois’s lips compressed into a tight line at the CEO’s confession, her eyes conveying regret at what she knew would test the resolve of Cat’s still tenuous emotional bearing.

“That was my call.”

All eyes shifted toward Alex, who had taken an at-ease stance beside the conference room’s laptop docking station.

“And who the hell are you?”

Alex drew to attention as she locked gazes with the increasingly agitated reporter, her hand twitching at her side as if searching for her sidearm. “I’m the agent who made it possible for you to be here so quickly in the middle of the night for this meeting.”

She stepped closer, her expression losing any sign of emotional response. “I’m also the agent who could make it possible you never see outside this building ever again.”

Before Cat could intercede, Snapper snorted in amusement and swiveled to face Alex fully. “That’s the first time in ages since I actually believed that threat.”

Alex struggled to hide her surprise at what she was certain was a half-smile on Snapper’s lips. “If you could make it so I also don’t have to pay alimony anymore, have at it.”

The swift lift of Cat’s hand in the air signaled a halt to their banter. “Agent, please,” she called, though the brunette could see the CEO’s own amusement at Snapper’s comment, “play the video.”

“Of course,” she nodded, stepping back toward the conference room’s laptop. With a few clicks, she minimized Lois’s screen and pulled up the video she had already queued to play.

A series of images and video clips scrolled past, piecing together what looked like one of Cat’s darkest nightmares: images of Thomas Rieger after Luthor’s transformation of him, followed by the reports on Spencer Graves’s murder; footage from the drone that recorded the recent red kryptonite assault on Supergirl and her fall and escape from Alex’s care, interspersed with more damning footage Cat knew was from CatCo’s coverage of Kara’s first fight against red kryptonite poisoning; coverage of the Silver Banshee’s fight with Supergirl in National City Park, followed by photos of Siobhan lying along the river where CADMUS had dumped her, believing her to be dead; CCTV footage of Hank Henshaw outside Senator Crane’s office the night he attacked her, followed by the CCN footage of J’onn J’onzz morphing from his human form as Henshaw to his Martian form; clips of the news coverage of Senator Crane’s “death,” the correlation to the preceding footage unsettlingly clear; disturbing video, filmed with a handheld camera in one of CADMUS’s labs, of a viscous gray sludge oozing from the collapsed chest of a human Cat didn’t recognize.

The familiar distorted voiceover of the previous videos played during the entire montage:

 _“True citizens of Earth: The complacency of our political leaders toward the ongoing invasion of our planet has cost us precious_ human _life. The alien invaders have made our warnings truth. Human blood is now on the hands of everyone responsible for the forced integration of these terrorists among us.”_

As the video came to its conclusion, Cat’s eyes widened in horror. Her hand lifted to her mouth, useless in stopping the sound wrenched from her body at the final footage: grainy video of Kara, strapped motionless to an operating table, thankfully unconscious by that point but her expression paralyzed by the suffering Luthor was inflicting upon her. Whoever had taken the video spared no focus on the open surgical site or unidentified hands dissecting her without hesitation.

_“We remain the antidote to their poison. We have already rid the planet of one of the false gods those in power expected us to worship, and silenced the voice of her most ardent disciple. We are the scientists who will prove humanity will always prevail. What powers the false god once claimed for herself, we will now bestow to the deserving. We will ensure humanity’s ascension as rulers of one Earth for one species. We are CADMUS.”_

The screen blacked out for a second before Alex switched back to the link with Lois. Gaze still filled to capacity with regret at what Cat had just seen, she stated, “Since this video hit the Internet, reports have come from all across the country on the rise of anti-alien sentiment in their areas. CADMUS has given all the previously disorganized hatred a banner under which to unite. They’re calling their combined faction CADMUS Ascending and the followers are referring to themselves as True Ascendants.”

James shifted, fury rumbling deep in his chest. “They’re declaring species superiority and have already issued demands for the government to put into place mandatory screenings that would require proof of ‘human purity.’”

His expression tightened with righteous anger. “It’s like the one-drop laws of the antebellum South, all over again.”

“They’re also demanding access to the alien registry, to use it as a means of rounding up known aliens for what sounds like indefinite detention. And,” Lois added, “we’re getting total radio silence from Marsdin’s camp on all of this. I can’t get any of my White House sources to respond to any outreach.”

Snapper’s lips curled disdainfully. “We’re getting the same bunch of nothing from our White House contacts as well.”

The three turned in sync to watch Cat, who had yet to speak since the video had ended. She stared forward, eyes focused on some inward point that left her impervious to the triplicate attention aimed her way. Increasingly worried by her extending silence, James finally leaned forward in his seat and softly beckoned, “Ms. Grant? Are you—are you okay?”

The CEO’s only movement was the shift of her gaze to meet his. In her eyes, he could see a rage beyond any he’d ever seen in her, blazing in golden shards.

Without a word, she slipped out her mobile phone. Nimble fingers danced across the screen and in seconds she was declaring, “Tell me you’re nearly finished with your response, and _don’t_ tell me you’re giving it to that pathetic press secretary of yours to deliver. This needs to come from _you_.”

On the other end of Cat’s line, Marsdin let her eyes close against the rush of relief to rise within her at the sound of her friend’s voice, every bit as bold and demanding as ever. “My press secretary is not pathetic. He’s simply terrified of you,” she countered. “However, I agree that this response needs to come from me. And, yes, we are nearly finished writing it. My head speech writer is giving it a final polish right now.”

The CEO hummed in appeasement. “I don’t know why you put them through writing you anything. You never stick to script.”

“I like to be extemporaneous.”

Reminiscence glittered in Cat’s gaze. “Funny, last I checked, that wasn’t a synonym for difficult.”

Olivia snorted openly at Cat’s retort. “It’s one of my best attributes. My people are the original orators, you know.”

“Jesus, Liv,” the CEO sighed, but Olivia could hear the tinge of affection in her soft cadence.

“We’re going live at five.” Her voice sharpened pensively. “When she started releasing these videos, I never thought she would actually gain support in this vulgar crusade of hers—and definitely not this quickly or widespread.”

Cat frowned at the ubiquitous faith in a far-too-often undeserving humanity that seemed a touchstone of the heroic. Leaving that thought for analysis another day, she sighed, “How bad is it?”

When Olivia spoke again, Cat heard the heavy undercurrent of regret carving its mark into the very clay of her being. “It’s already expanding far beyond our shores,” she bitterly admitted. “Though nothing near the numbers trending here in the States, we’re seeing anti-alien factions rallying to the CADMUS cause across Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East—she’s igniting a fire that’s going to blaze around the globe if we don’t do something to stop it.”

Cat’s eyes narrowed as she swept her gaze over the faces watching her. “We will stop it, Liv. She’s not winning this. Give your statement. We’ll be there to make sure the world hears it—whether they want to or not.”

Cat disconnected their line, dropping her phone down onto the conference room table. She leaned forward, her fist clenching and un-clenching against the tabletop in rapid rhythm with her thoughts. “Olivia is giving her statement at five this morning. We’re going to saturate every one of CatCo’s outlets with the presser and follow-up reports. Start assigning reporters here to cover whatevever major points she drops in her statement. Also, start working up outlines for more general follow-up articles focusing on things here in National City we can legitimately tie to CADMUS.”

She shot a questioning glance toward Alex, who gave the slightest nod. “Reach out to Detective Maggie Sawyer at NCPD. She will share what she can.”

“And what are we saying about Supergirl?”

“We’ll take Olivia’s lead on this, but I already suspect she’s not going to confirm or deny Supergirl’s status just yet—and neither will we.”

“But she is alive.”

Cat caught the uncertain hook at the end of Snapper’s statement. “Yes, Lucas.”

Only someone with years of familiarity with Snapper would have caught the incremental shift of relief in his expression. “And what about you?”

“Last I checked, I was alive as well,” she jabbed, strangely comforted by his responding scowl. “However, that needs to remain off the boards as well—for now. I’m certain Lillian has already celebrated the assumed slow and painful demise of Supergirl’s ‘most ardent disciple.’ I need her to continue to think I’m dead. I need time to pull together the rest of what I was working on with Senator Crane before—”

She shivered involuntarily and practically snarled in disgust at the feel of her accelerating heartbeat. “Before my stay at Hotel CADMUS.”

Shaking off yet another shudder, she turned back to the other reporters in the meeting. “James, let Suzanne know she’ll be covering Olivia’s presser for CCN. Lucas, send Marcel as well, for the print and digital coverage. Tell him he will be collaborating on at least one front page story with whomever the _Planet_ sends to cover this.”

“That will be me,” Lois instantly intoned. Catching the almost envious gleam in Cat’s gaze, she allowed herself a half-smirk. “Who else do you think I would send for this?”

With a low huff, Cat rose from her seat, watching James and Snapper mimic her motion. “Send me article outlines as you work them up, for review. I can’t do anything in an official capacity, but I damn well want to know unofficially that we’re hitting this as hard as we can.”

James gave an understanding nod while Snapper merely grumbled something Cat barely recognized as an affirmative sound.

“Cat, could you wait a minute?” 

The smaller blonde turned to face the wall-mounted screen where Lois watched her with a disturbingly unreadable expression. She glanced back at the trio making their way to the conference room’s exit. 

Snapper shrugged once as he continued his departure. “Enjoy your girl talk,” he groused. “Olsen and I will take care of the real news.” 

Rolling his eyes at the comment, James waved to both women. Lois finally offered a small grin. “Bye, Jimmy. Looking forward to seeing you without the cane soon.” 

Alex held back for a moment, meeting glances with the CEO. She stood tall, shoulders back and spine straight, her features set by a concerned frown. Resisting her immediate instinct to stay with Cat, she instead stated, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

As Cat settled back into her seat, she nodded. “Thank you.”

Once Alex had closed the door and disappeared from the conference room’s window view, Cat swiveled back around in her chair to face Lois’s image on the screen. The Metropolis reporter, however, continued to watch the exit, a fond smile across her lips. 

“I never thought I’d see the day Lexi ever was as protective of someone else as she is of Kara.” 

An uncontrolled snort of laughter broke from Cat’s mouth, finally drawing back Lois’s attention. “I would never dare assume anything regarding Alex’s protection, but I’m fairly certain she would have you in some kind of complicated death hold only a Kryptonian could break if you ever called her Lexi in mixed company.”

The dark-haired reporter pursed her lips, mirthful gleam in her eyes. “Whatever. She might be a big DEO bad-ass now, but I’ve known her since she was a spindly-legged kid, scaring Smallville with her tiny person petulance.” 

The gleam shifted, soft and knowing, at the gamut of emotions flickering across Cat’s face. “Never expected how raveled our lives would end up becoming, did you, KitCat?”

Blinking away the shadows of sentimentality she would tease another day, she added, “You should know, some of our original entanglements have reached out to me this week.” 

The confused stiffness running across Cat’s shoulders slowly released with disappointed understanding. “Let me guess: She didn’t like being ignored and decided to find someone on which she could unleash her displeasure.” 

“She’s scared, Cat.”

The CEO jolted at the statement, straightening against the chair back so she could glare up at Lois’s image on the screen. “Katherine Grant doesn’t _do_ scared.” 

“Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to agree, but I heard it in her voice, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.”

Drawing a breath and unconsciously holding it, Cat lifted her mobile phone from the table and unlocked it. She felt the notification vibration through her fingertips once more as she stared in disbelief at the number of missed calls and texts awaiting her from her mother’s number.

“She wouldn’t admit to anything, but I suspect every single number she has for you is maxed on message space.”

Cat fought to suppress the betraying tremble of her chin as the possibility of Lois’s words washed over her. Resting the phone face down in her lap for the moment, she continued to stare at it while asking, “You said entanglements. Who else?”

“Joe.” 

Lois grit her teeth at the flinch that was always Cat’s default response to hearing her ex’s name. “I was tempted to ignore that call completely. He surprised me, though. Not one bit of incivility. He just wanted to know Carter was all right.”

Cat nodded, never one to doubt Joe’s concern for their son. “I assume I don’t need to deal with him at this point?” 

“He has questions, but he’s appeased for now.” 

When Cat continued to stare with clearly unfocused eyes, Lois softly offered, “She just wants to know you’re all right as well, KitCat.” 

Seeing the glistening shift of Cat’s focus up to the screen, she offered a closed-lip smile and a slight wave before closing their Skype connection.

The CEO sighed, her fingers twitching around the phone in her grip before lifting it and deftly hitting the speed dial button for her mother’s cell phone. She would admit to no one but herself the cowardly choice of calling in the middle of the night to ensure speaking to the voicemail she encountered more frequently than her mother anyway. 

Instead, she startled at the responding click before a second ring could even start and the rushed “Catherine Jane, is it—are you all right?” through the line. 

Cat’s brows drew together uncertainly, bewildered both by the sound of her full name and by the confirmation of Lois’s assessment clear in her mother’s voice. “Yes, Mother. I’m—I’m safe.” 

And then she held her breath in wonder and alarm as she listened to the distinct sounds of her mother’s uncensored tears. Uncertain for several beats what to do, Cat finally softly reaffirmed, “I promise, I’m safe.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I-I was,” she confessed. “I’m sorry for not reaching out to you sooner, though. I didn’t mean to—I wasn’t—I wasn’t in a good place for a while.” 

She loathed admitting anything Katherine could file away and wield against her at a later time, but something in the rare moment between them protected her from those unfortunately founded fears. 

“But you’re really okay now?” 

Unsettled by the sound of her mother’s normally critical tone now thick with emotion, she struggled to reply. “I’m not perfect, but I’m closer than I was.” 

“And Carter and-and Adam?” 

“Carter and I are both in the protective custody of an agency I trust implicitly. Adam was offered the same.”

She halted, swallowing against the traitorous tightness in her throat. “He opted to remain in Opal City, so the agency protecting us has assigned two agents to protect him.” 

In yet another move that left Cat gawping at its unexpectedness, her mother asked, “And the girl?”

“Wh-what girl,” she stammered, blushing and sighing simultaneously at how unabashedly stymied she was by this entirely unexpected and unnerving conversation. 

“Kitty,” she sighed, some of her natural pique edging into her voice, “as much as I’d love to reenact this particular scene from your teen years, I suspect we haven’t got much time before you need to go. Considering that horrid video and the ensuing ignorance I’m seeing in response, I suspect you’ve got a more daunting task than usual ahead of you, bringing truth to the misguided.”

“You—you’ve watched—you know—you—”

When her daughter unceremoniously spluttered into confounded silence, Katherine urged, “Words, Kitty. We both trade in them for a living.”

Strangely put at ease by her mother’s sharpness, Cat breathed deeply and tried again. “You never watch anything but _international_ news, Mother.”

“I make exceptions when my only child disappears amidst unclear reports and unsettling whispers of abduction and—and worse.”

Cat bowed her head at the shake of Katherine’s voice. Regardless of the tempestuous tangles of their relationship, this was a side of her mother she never wished to see. “I _am_ sorry.”

“I know you are. So am I.”

As if predicting the perplexed frown now adorning her daughter’s face, Katherine continued, “Perhaps I would be higher on your emergency contact list—or, for that matter, on it at all—if we had a less antagonistic relationship.”

Softly scoffing, but without any true bite, Cat replied, “You _are_ on my list, Mother. There—wasn’t anyone at the time with the wherewithal to think of reaching out to you.”

“Which brings us full circle to the girl.” She moderated her tone as though approaching a frightened animal. “Whatever you call her or whatever she wishes to be called, I know one unequivocal truth about her: She loves you. For that matter, you clearly love her as well.”

When she heard no argument in return, Katherine nodded to herself. “Glad to hear you’ve accepted that. After your besotted defense of her, I wondered whether you would. I know that delusional hustler you married did a great deal of damage with his brutish behavior, but I always hoped it wouldn’t be permanent.”

She allowed a beat of silence to pass. “I knew it would take someone special. I suppose I underestimated just _how_ special.”

Before Cat could realize what she was admitting, she breathed, “More special than I will ever deserve.”

When the line drew perfectly quiet, Cat began to wonder if she had somehow lost the connection.

“Don’t be melodramatic, Kitty.”

The words lacked any of the venom Cat knew her mother could secrete as easily as saliva for mere mortals.

“You’ve enraptured the Girl of Steel. Honestly, how much more special do you need to feel?”

Pleased at the amused huff she was able to draw from her daughter, Katherine sighed, “I won’t tell you not to do whatever you’ve in mind next to protect or defend your exquisite creature. Just—please be safe. And, if you can’t be, then at least let someone know I would appreciate a call to inform me you’re still alive.”

Discomfited by the possibility of deeper emotional confessions, Katherine quietly ended the call before Cat could respond.

Realizing the line had disconnected, the CEO carefully laid her phone down on the conference table, her eyes glazing with emotion as she processed the wholly unexpected few minutes that had just transpired. The sound of her mother’s tears replayed with upsetting clarity, stirring images of the one and only other time she had ever seen Katherine Grant cry.

She could feel the antiseptic burn of memories she both guarded and reviled: the final moments of her earliest defender, her first hero—her biggest fan. The shadows of her own sorrow since that day matched the melancholy darkness of her father’s hospice room, of her mother’s hair draped across his unmoving chest, of the slip of her own eyelids over eyes forever imprinted with the image of her parents together as the heart monitor sounded the tone of their final marriage vow fulfilled.

With a frustrated swipe of her knuckles beneath her eyes, the CEO collected her phone and left the conference room, curious about Alex’s unanticipated delay in returning. Worried about the myriad implications behind such a disappearance, she headed toward the stairs she knew would lead her down to Ops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was desperately trying to finish this whole chapter, but I'm still struggling with the end. And when I realized my chapter was already at 30 pages and I wasn't finished by at least another 3 pages, I made the decision to split the chapter (mind you, this was the chapter I'd already split off from Chapter 6, LOL). I hope I split it at a satisfactory, though teasing, spot. 
> 
> That being said, let me just apologize now: I ended up cutting practically every plot point I teased in my comments on the last chapter, LOL. Seriously, I think I've cut more from this chapter than I've left in. I'm almost tempted to create another story in this series just for all the cut scenes I've compiled. One was particularly difficult for me to let go. I wrote it a while ago and loved it intensely--so much so that I wasted far too much time trying to figure out how to keep it in the story. Cat finally booted me into motion with a Jimmy Choo and I begrudgingly let it go, along with at least three other scenes I thought were fantastic but just not right for the tone. Le sigh. 
> 
> I was originally going to write here that this was a short chapter of small moments that tease bigger things...but then I remembered, this chapter includes one of the biggest things from this series: the reason it's called CADMUS Ascending, LOL. Yeah, talk about playing a long game. I was seriously stressed when last season introduced a similar faction in the Children of Liberty. I hope I'm able to draw enough of a delineation between CADMUS Ascending and the Children of Liberty to make my version worth the read. 
> 
> I'm also interested in your thoughts on this Katherine Grant. While I in no way am trying to expunge the idea of her as how she was presented on the show, I guess I would hope even that iteration of Katherine would find it in her to be upset and worried about Cat in this situation. Plus, I already had Adam kick Cat when she was down. I didn't really want to compound things. 
> 
> Still loving how Alex and Cat are interacting. Still loving Eliza and "Winslow." Still making my way toward the finish line ;-)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> President Marsdin reveals her intentions toward Project CADMUS and Cat goes to the end of the world, literally, to save her hero from herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is brief sessy time toward the end of this chapter. Nothing explicit. It's more a moment of Kara wanting to reclaim her connection with Cat.

Heels clicked rhythmically down the steps before her, alerting several DEO agents within Ops to her approach. As she continued toward the cluster of workstations in the command center, she noted with a barely suppressed smile the scramble of one agent in particular toward her.

“Winslow.”

Practically tripping over his own boots to stop, her former IT guru loudly blurted out, “Ms. Grant, is-is everything okay?”

Partly from nostalgia and partly from fondness for teasing the tech agent, neither of which she would ever confess, Cat continued to stare in a silence she knew had always set him squirming.

Finally, with a curious hitch of her eyebrow that sparked a deep blush through his cheeks, she replied, “I seem to have lost one Danvers sister and I would appreciate a status update on the other.”

“Oh.” A relieved sigh escaped him as he rubbed his neck. “Um, Dr. Hamilton was waiting here for Alex when she escorted Snapper and James down from your meeting.”

Seeing the start of worry in Cat’s glare, he added, “It wasn’t—it didn’t pertain to Kara. She’s still in the A.I. room. Eliza hasn’t moved from the door since you left.”

As he spoke, he led Cat back to his workstation, pointing to the video feed he had running in one corner of his screen. The CEO observed the scene of Eliza, still wrapped in her blanket, thumbing through whatever she brought to read on her tablet.

“Has there been any discernable activity within the room?”

“Nothing we can hear or see from the outside,” Winn sighed, uncertain whether or not this was a good thing. He caught the flash of similar thought in Cat’s expression. “If you want to go back, I can let Alex know where you are.”

As much as she longed to return—better yet, to enter the room and do whatever she could to release Kara from the burden of her misplaced guilt—she demurred with a glance at the clock on the wall. “I actually need to borrow one of these workstations, in case Snapper and James are able to send me article outlines before Olivia’s press conference.”

“Of course,” Winn excitedly replied while pulling a chair over to the station next to his. “Actually,” he stated as he pulled up a VPN client window and entered network information Cat didn’t recognize, “let me text James. I’ll tell him to send anything for you to one of our encrypted accounts. That way, if anyone is monitoring the CatCo server for activity related to your account, we won’t set off any alarms there.”

Knowing without needing to look that Cat’s expression would be darkening with concern, he continued, “I ran several of our most aggressive security scans on your phone, so don’t worry about the call you made from it.”

He blushed once more at his admission of monitoring Cat’s phone activity. “We’ve also had all your mother’s communications lines under trace since Dr. Luthor’s attack.”

“Who else?”

When he finished sending his text to James, Winn set down his phone and fully faced the CEO. “Adam, of course, and both your sons’ fathers. We’ve also assigned security details to covertly monitor Joe Morgan and your mother as well as Carter’s friend, Nelia. We have no specific cause to monitor her, but we wanted to be extra cautious when we learned from Agent Toscano he spent most of his time with her both in and out of class.”

Rather than the comfort he hoped his words would provide Cat, Winn flinched at the flutter of her eyelids against a startlingly distraught gaze. “All I wanted to do was protect Kara.”

“You are.”

Halting the CEO’s argument before it could start, Winn repeated, “You _are_. You’ve had Luthor on the defense since she realized you were the one coming for CADMUS, you know that, right? What she did to Thomas Rieger was an intentional message to you. She knew her time was running out and she knew _you_ were the reason why. You’re a force beyond reckoning when you’re on a mission.”

Staring into Winn’s deeply set gaze, Cat allowed the calm of his conviction to soothe her. She huffed, her features reflecting her gratitude even as she feigned an indifference that grew ever more foreign to her. “Though I do appreciate this more-than-adequate pep talk, don’t think this will get you off the hook for that utterly unpardonable code name you chose for me.”

Winn’s laughter drew attention from several agents, but he couldn’t stop. “Whatever it takes to make it up to you, Ms. Grant, it will be worth it.”

His earnest reply made her own eyes shimmer. Reaching out, she pressed a hand to the still stubbly side of his face. “Thank you for all you did to save me.”

“You saved yourself,” he protested, skin warming beneath her touch. “I was just smart enough to do what you told me to do.”

With a soft _tsk_ and a pat to his cheek, she swiveled around to face the workstation he’d set up for her to use. She frowned, however, not quite ready to end this enjoyable respite with her former employee. “Tell me, have you made any headway on the _extra_ project I asked you to handle?”

The tech agent struggled to hide his confusion, his lips mouthing the word “extra” as he tried to force his brain to find the answer he knew Cat wanted.

“For Supergirl,” the CEO added in an effort to speed up his response.

“For-for S-Super—oh, for Supergirl!”

Finally understanding what Cat was asking, he softly responded, “Do-do you think Kara will—well, will she be able to—or-or _want_ to—”

“I don’t know,” Cat confessed, not wanting Winn to fully voice his—and her own—fears. “I hope so. But if she chooses not to, she has every right—and justification—to make that choice. However, if she chooses to continue, she’s—”

She closed her eyes, willing away the images flickering in the darkness behind her eyelids.

“She’s going to need a new suit,” she pressed on, her voice only quaking slightly. “So why not surprise her with an upgrade?”

With a jerky nod, Winn scrambled back to his workstation, pulling a tablet from the desk drawer. His fingers fluttered hurriedly across the smooth surface as he pulled up what he thought the CEO would want to see.

“I-I haven’t had a chance to get back to it recently, but I did finish a few sketches for the new design.”

He handed over the tablet, a nervous pride gleaming in his gaze.

When Cat focused on the drawings on the screen, her eyes widened ever so briefly before settling. “Well, color me impressed, Winslow.”

The CEO suspected if floating were within his power, his boots wouldn’t be touching the ground at that moment. Suppressing the smile she felt intentionally trying to betray her, she instead retrieved her phone and sent him an attachment.

“Take a look at the photo I just sent you.” She raised an index finger in a way that froze the tech agent in mid-movement. “It is for you only at this time. Kara hasn’t had a chance to show it to Alex or Eliza.”

Dark eyebrows drew together as Winn pulled out his phone.

When Cat spoke again, her voice was a low murmur. “I want you to use the color of Alura’s robes as the main blue and Zor-El’s suit as the accent blue. Also, integrate the gold trim from Kara’s robes in this photo, but keep Kara’s original belt. As you can see, she had you base the design on her mother’s belt.”

She watched Winn swallow several times, his eyelashes glittering with tears he futilely tried to blink away. “I think Kara will love all those details.”

With an understanding hum, she turned once more toward her workstation. “I also think you should bring Lena in to work on this.”

Catching the surprised rise of Winn’s eyebrows at her suggestion when she glanced back, Cat explained, “I suspect she will bring quite a few valuable ideas to your design.”

Unwilling to allow Lena to become lost to the constant undertow of guilt Cat knew rippled beneath her skin, she finished softly, “I also suspect today’s video is going to do quite a number on her. It shouldn’t. Kara has always seen the good in her. We need to remind her of what Kara has always believed. We need her to remember she’s more than her name.”

Winn’s expression reflected his far-too-personal understanding of Cat’s final statement. “I’ll make sure to let her know we welcome her help with this. I’ve got a couple other projects I could use her help with as well.”

Cat pursed her lips, pleased by Winn’s easy acceptance of her proposal. Content after that to settle in beside the tech agent, she began the task of clearing away the numerous texts and voicemails on her phone, breaking whenever she received an email from James.

It was only when an unexpected silence settled over Ops that she finally looked up, shocked by how quickly time had passed. Her next surprise was how all the agents looked expectantly toward her as the clock clicked over to five. Waggling her fingers toward the large monitors behind them, she asked Winn, “How do we get CCN on these things?”

His fingers were already in flight across his keyboard before she’d even begun her question. By the time she finished, the screens lit up with the image of President Marsdin moving to take her place at the podium set up before what Cat knew would be a packed press room.

When the sound and flicker of cameras ceased, the President settled her hands on either side of the podium and looked out over the crowd of reporters. “Early this morning, the domestic terrorist group CADMUS released a video in which they claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and torture of a U.S. citizen.”

The opening salvo of Marsdin’s statement rippled through the scrum with a stunned flurry of whispers.

“A team of forensic experts is examining this video extensively, but, at this time, we can confirm the woman shown at the end is Supergirl. What we cannot confirm with the available footage is whether or not she is alive or dead. However, her suffering is irrefutable—and unpardonable.” 

Marsdin met the gazes of as many reporters as she could, her blue eyes lit with cold fire. “She came to us as a child lost to the stars, asking only for refuge and basic human kindness. In return, she has willingly offered us everything she has, including her own life, to protect us. _This_ is how we thank her?”

Her fingers latched down along the edges of her podium in time with the sharp strike of her voice, the soft give of wood beneath her grip grounding her. “My administration will not stop until we confirm the fate of Supergirl, but this is my promise to her, no matter what: There is nowhere on this planet the traitors of CADMUS can go where I will not find them—and make no mistake: They are traitors to this country and _all_ her citizens.”

The microphone before her picked up the strained sigh of her frustration before she spoke again. “Project CADMUS is our own homegrown monster. It has existed for so long and in such fiercely protected confidentiality among its supporters that some of my predecessors never even knew of its existence. Those who did know were content, for whatever their reasons, to do nothing.”

Marsdin bowed her head. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

When she looked back up, her eyes glistened with the sharp shards of memories she swore she would never allow to dull. “The time for doing nothing is through. What my predecessors either did not know or willingly ignored, I will not tolerate. My administration has been working to identify both the scientists and supporters responsible for operating and protecting Project CADMUS. I can assure them, they have not deterred us in our pursuit of the truth.

“I appointed Supergirl my Ambassador of Alien Amnesty, which means CADMUS has attacked not only an American citizen but also a high-ranking Presidential appointee. For this and all the unforgivable assaults on our alien citizens protected by my Amnesty law, I intend to bring down the fullest power of my office on every last one of its members.”

At that, Marsdin looked straight into the CCN camera she knew was set up at the back of the room.

“You named yourself after the first Greek hero: Cadmus, the slayer of monsters. You usurped a name of which you are infinitely unworthy, for a crusade Cadmus himself would have deemed cowardly and unjust. _You_ are the monsters, hiding in the shadow of secrecy too long protected by the xenophobic worst of this country. I know who you are. I know your supporters as well. Your time in shadows is over.”

The vacuum of silence settled for a second before erupting as reporters yelled and jostled and clamored over the baseline beat of flash pops and camera clicks. Marsdin, however, turned away with a slow sweep of eyes and a steady stride.

From her spot in Ops, Cat watched the live shot of Olivia disappearing through the nearest door as she heard Winn whisper beside her, “Talk about dropping the mic.”

She hummed in agreement while scooping up her phone where it vibrated with an incoming call. “And they call me dramatic.”

The tightness within Cat’s shoulders relaxed slightly at the sound of Olivia’s low laugh. “Where do you think I learned it?” She laughed again at the familiar responding huff. “How much work have I just made for you?”

“Not as much as you might fear. Miranda’s holding back nothing now.” She paused a beat as she moved from Ops into an empty corridor before adding, “You’re not going to like some of the names at the top of her list.”

“Like who, Burnham? Given all we know about his recruitment tactics for CADMUS, finding out he was also funneling military funds to Luthor wouldn’t be that surprising, Cat—”

“Baker,” the CEO interrupted, catching the sharp inhalation from the other side of the line as the name tumbled from her lips.

“Phil Baker? The Senate’s president _pro tem_?”

Cat knew the sudden quiet was the eye of a storm well overdue. She pulled her phone away from her ear in preparation.

“The fourth in line to this fucking office? The senior ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee?”

Placing the phone once more to her ear, Cat sighed, “Are you really that surprised, Liv? Baker has always been a smarmy, sycophantic bastard. Even his own constituents seem perpetually confused that he keeps winning elections. Now we know: Just like with Spencer Graves, he’s had Luthor pulling strings to get him into a position that would benefit her the most.”

“I need this information, Cat. We need—”

“We need to confirm financials on all the names Miranda has given us and we need to drop this hammer as accurately and as hard as we can. We need to make this the fatal blow.”

She heard the begrudging capitulation of Olivia’s sigh. “Give me time to meet with Miranda at least once more, to go over the data we’ve been pulling together on the names she gave me. I want this just as badly as you do, Liv—but we _cannot_ fuck this up. We owe Kara to get this right.”

Voice lowering, Marsdin asked, “How is she?”

Breathing slowly and steadily to calm the images flickering cruelly behind her eyes, Cat confessed, “She’s not—the doctors here aren’t sure if she can heal all the internal damage Lillian inflicted.”

In the suffocating silence to follow, Cat could hear the cogs of self-castigation grinding Olivia’s thoughts. “I thought I was protecting her from this.”

“So did I,” Cat reminded. “I was the one who pressed you to make her your Ambassador of Alien Amnesty, remember? As if a fucking _title_ would somehow insulate her from Lillian’s depravity. I made her believe she was safe when I should have forced her to see what humanity is really like and why we sure as hell aren’t worth her life to protect.”

“She already sees humanity as it is, Cat.” She sighed somberly into the phone. “But she sees, too, what humanity _could be_.”

“You’re all insufferable with that shit,” the CEO muttered, not the least bit convincing.

“I love you, too, _ánassa_.” Her features relaxed at the profane response Cat hissed under her breath. “Take care of our hero. I will be in touch again soon.”

Slipping her phone back into her pocket, Cat took a moment to compose herself before striding back toward Ops. She slowed noticeably when she saw Dr. Hamilton watching her from beside Winn’s workstation. The tech agent was watching her as well, his eyebrows drawn into a worried tangle.

As she continued to approach, she swept her gaze around Ops and then further out through the foyer, searching for Alex. Only when she happened to glance up did she realize the brunette had retreated to her lab. Maggie stood in front of where the brunette sat, listening to whatever she was saying. In an instant, however, Maggie’s arms surrounded Alex’s shoulders as she slumped into the detective’s embrace.

Fear drew her breaths to a momentary stop before stuttering back in ragged, rapid gasps she struggled to slow. Forcing herself to continue forward, she blinked against the upsetting image of Alex’s body shuddering in Maggie’s arms. By sheer will alone, she moved in front of the CMO and queried in a surprisingly steady voice, “Doctor, I take it you’re waiting for me?”

Hamilton rose from her lean against the edge of the workstation. Bypassing the CEO’s question, she instead asked, “Would you come with me, Ms. Grant?”

Uncertain her voice wouldn’t give away under the stress of her growing unease, the CEO instead straightened her stance and nodded once. Hamilton tipped her head slightly before moving ahead, knowing Cat would follow.

The duo took an elevator back to the med bay floor, both quietly accepting that passing through Alex’s lab wasn’t an option. Hamilton led them quickly across the main area to where her office tucked away to the back.

Inside, Cat perched on the edge of one of the guest chairs as Hamilton shut the door and circled to her desk chair. She leveled her gaze on the CEO. “Ms. Grant, we need to discuss something.”

The blonde shifted in her seat, discomfited by the serious tone Hamilton had adopted. “This sounds like news that warrants you calling me Cat.”

Hamilton offered a comforting smile. “I apologize, Cat. I didn’t mean to scare you. This actually isn’t bad news—I hope.”

With as casual a shrug as possible, she prodded, “I look forward to you telling me so I can make the determination for myself.”

Hamilton folded her hands on her desk. “As you encouraged during your last blood draw, I ‘lived the dream’ in regard to studying any alterations I might find regarding your pain response and your enhanced healing.”

Even as she rolled her eyes at the CMO’s tease, Cat felt the press of dread pushing outward beneath her skin. “And what did you find?”

“One of the tests I chose for your latest bloodwork is a prototype that can identify location and intensity of pain. When I ran your blood draw from yesterday through this test, I expected it not only would identify the specific nociceptor regions you experienced pain but also would give me more detailed readings on how your enhanced healing responded. What I found, instead, was evidence that _all_ your nociceptors are in a constant, low-level state of alert, all through your body, which keeps your enhanced healing active at a similarly low intensity.”

“English, if you please, Doctor.”

Catching the tight clip of Cat’s words, Hamilton explained, “Your pain receptors aren’t just sending signals about things like broken bones or cuts and bruises. They’re sounding the alarm for any ‘damage,’ and your enhanced healing ability is responding as it was designed to do. In essence, your body is healing itself from its natural cellular death. Same with Agent Danvers. I ran her blood work through the same test yesterday to confirm what I had found with your tests.”

Bowing her head, Cat stared down at her hands folded in her lap for several moments.

“And what, exactly, does this response mean for Alex and me?”

“It means the serum created with Kara’s blood has arrested your bodies’ aging processes and extended your lifespans to an as-yet unknown limit.”

Mouth flashing dry instantly, Cat stared gape-jawed in shock as she tried to process Hamilton’s explanation. “Unknown—what does—what—”

When words frustratingly fled her command, Cat began shaking her head. “No. No, that is _preposterous_! There’s—there is no way—I’m human! This isn’t possible!”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t be possible. Kara’s blood, however, has enhanced you both significantly. You’re not Kryptonian, but you’re now closer to it than any other humans.”

A chilling thought tightened the muscles in Cat’s chest. “At least until Lillian uses this on others.”

The doctor studied her with a strange, unsettling expression. “In examining all the tests and blood draws we’ve done for Alex and you, I’ve formed a working hypothesis: I believe the serum needs prior nociceptor activation to take effect.”

Before Cat could give voice to the irritation obvious in her glare, Hamilton explained, “The serum worked so successfully for Alex and you because you both were already in pain when injected. I think that your pain was the catalyst the serum needed to—to know what it was supposed to do.”

“So, if she uses this on someone not already injured—”

“I will need to run more simulations to confirm this, but my hypothesis is the serum won’t do anything if not activated by pre-existing pain.”

Relief almost instantly disappeared beneath the rushing return of reality. “It can’t be possible,” she repeated, her voice splintering into a miasma of disbelief and shock.

“We’re going to continue to run tests on you both. I promise you, Cat, we are going to keep investigating this until we understand as much as possible about what the _kryptosanguis_ serum has done and will continue to do to you.”

Hamilton’s words washed over her in a droning buzz, her thoughts already expanding beyond the confines of the office quickly becoming far too small for her comfort.

Sweat prickled along her hairline as she focused on filling her lungs with air uncomfortably suffocating and stagnant. With a shake of her head, she stumbled to her feet and stalked away wordlessly, Hamilton watching with a remorseful grimace.

Skirting the perimeter of the med bay, she returned to the elevators, hopping into the first available car and hitting the button for the roof access. She needed air, needed space, needed once more to see the world beyond the suddenly shrinking confines of the DEO’s walls.

When the elevator doors finally opened, she scurried toward the access door at the end of the short walkway, throwing it open with a vicious shove. Cold wind instantly assailed her, sharp chills biting against the bare skin of her arms as she moved as close to the edge as she could stand.

Even without being close enough to see, she could hear the steady city rhythms from the street below—let it fill her with its familiar, soothing white noise even as she struggled to put right the impossible tumult of her thoughts.

Kara’s blood had saved her, and now it was changing her in ways she had never dared consider possible.

Uncertainty shook her at the sound of the roof access scraping open behind her. However, she relaxed at the scuff of hard-soled boots and the familiar black-clad silhouette to quietly approach her.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, the two women stared out over the still-dark city. After several minutes of silence, however, the break Alex had expected finally came. Head falling forward, the smaller blonde clenched her jaw, but it was a futile effort. The sound she had tried to restrain crashed from between gritted teeth in a heartbreaking, wounded dirge.

Alex pivoted instantly, arms pulling Cat into the comfort of her embrace. The CEO responded in-kind, her own hold on the brunette strong enough to squeeze a stifled groan from Alex.

Silent, stuttering breaths washed warm and thick across Alex’s shoulder as Cat gave in to the waves of emotions dragging her beneath their tow.

“My sons.”

The two words, barely choked out before a fresh current of tears surged through her, slammed into Alex like a punch to her solar plexus.

It was the order of the universe that, barring the unexpected and unmerciful, children should always outlive their parents. For the universe to disregard this unspoken agreement was an unforgivable betrayal—only, in this instance, the self-assumed betrayal came from much closer.

“I’m so sorry, Cat.”

Tears breached the barrier of Alex’s eyelids the moment she slammed them shut.

“There was so much I didn’t stop to think through before I insisted on giving you the serum. All I could think was that you would die if we didn’t, and we couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t bear the thought of you not being here—of having to tell Carter and Adam that I didn’t do everything I could to save their mom. And—and Kara—I-I couldn’t—I couldn’t—”

Cat cupped her hand against the back of Alex’s head, the gentle pressure the brunette’s final undoing. The smaller blonde staggered under the strikes of Alex’s sobs but managed to keep them both upright as she held Alex tightly.

Through her own tears, she softly chastised, “Never apologize for saving my life, Alex. I will always be grateful to you for fighting to do what you did. Besides, I definitely prefer being faced with _more_ time than I ever expected rather than the opposite.”

She indulged in a smile at the feel of Alex nodding her understanding. They held onto each other silently, each drawing comfort and strength they both knew the other would never admit to needing.

When they drew apart, Cat gripped the brunette’s forearms. Her eyes sparkled with mischief, drawing a grin to Alex’s lips before she even spoke. “It’s a good thing I like you, Alexandra, seeing as how we’re going to be in each other’s lives far longer than either of us anticipated.”

She felt the jostle of laughter through the arms within her grip. “The feeling is most assuredly mutual, Catherine.”

The click from Alex’s earpiece caught her attention a nanosecond before the access door slammed off its hinges behind her and clattered to the ground. Both she and Cat jumped backward at the sound as Winn’s voice came through: “Alex, Kara is on the move! She just left the A.I.—”

“I know,” she snapped. “She just ripped off the roof access door!”

Ignoring the bewildered noises from the tech agent, Alex moved forward a few slow steps toward where Kara hovered. However, even in the dim light from the access corridor, she could tell her sister wasn’t paying any attention to her.

Cat held out a hand, palm up, hoping the hero would come closer. She understood from the pained furrow of Kara’s brow that she had been listening to their conversation—perhaps _every_ conversation Cat had had since leaving her post outside the A.I. room. “Kara, talk to me, darling.”

Both women could see the glistening rills along Kara’s cheeks as she turned her gaze out over the city, unable to maintain eye contact with either of them.

And then she was gone, the air around them shifting with a startling percussive strength. As Alex grabbed Cat’s outstretched hand to balance her, she yelled, “Winn, where the hell is she going?”

“Um, current trajectory puts her on-track to the Fortress.” He grew slightly quieter. “She’s off her average speed by about two hundred meters per second.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she replied, “Contact Superman and tell him to get back out here as soon as possible.”

As Alex pivoted back to face Cat, she rubbed at the pain blossoming along her jawline from clenching her teeth. “She’s heading to Clark’s Fortress.”

“The icy bachelor pad?” She smirked at Alex’s surprised gasp. “Good, I’ve always wanted to see it. Lois says it’s actually quite astonishing.”

Confused by Cat’s comment, Alex shook her head. “Cat, you’re not going—I’ll go bring her back.”

“The hell you are.”

Her hands slid naturally up along the curve of her lower back. “I made the mistake of letting her hide away in that A.I. room. She’s not hiding away anymore—especially not from me.”

“Cat—”

“You’re not her only protector anymore, Alex.”

The brunette at first glared at the comment, years of conditioning—both external and internal—snapping into play. With a steadying breath, however, she finally admitted, “It’s a hard role to share.”

Cat resisted the urge to point out how she had been sharing for a while the role—the _honor_ —of caring for Kara with every family member, friend, and field agent who knew and loved the hero.

“I need to be the one to go after her. I need to stop this guilt spiral before it spins her completely out of our reach.”

Alex could hear the uptick of strain in Cat’s voice. “Hey, Kara’s going to be okay. We’re going to make sure of it.”

Cat silently scrutinized the brunette as she considered how to approach a topic she knew might upset Alex. “When you needed Cymbalta, I’m assuming you also met with a staff psychiatrist?”

Alex’s eyes narrowed at the confusing non sequitur. “Uh, yeah, I’ve had several sessions with her through the years—in addition to meeting with her quarterly for staff assessments, too. Do you—I mean, I just assumed—”

The CEO flicked her fingers dismissively. “I have an excellent therapist who will be earning her _excellent_ fee in spades once this is all finished—but, as far as I know, she works solely with human civilians.”

Realization clicked quickly in Alex’s head. “You think Kara needs to speak with a professional.”

“You don’t?”

Hearing the sting in her voice and seeing Alex’s responding flinch, Cat took a breath to calm herself. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to need at least a solid month of daily sessions just to process what I _heard_ Kara go through.”

Emotion raged in the depths of her glare. “We both know what she suffered at CADMUS, Alex. Lillian Luthor _tortured_ Kara. She endured trauma worse than some soldiers experience during war.”

She paused, fighting through the fury pounding against her temples.

“She needs to speak with someone trained to help her process _everything_ she has survived—including the trauma of losing her whole world. She deserves the peace of mind I don’t think she’s had since before that day.”

The CEO caught the way Alex bristled at the assumed insinuation—caught, too, the way her body sagged into the truth of Cat’s words with a defeated deflation. “Mom and I—we’ve tried our best to be what she’s needed—”

Unwilling to let Alex take blame where none was needed, Cat quickly stopped her. “You and Eliza both have given Kara an absolutely wonderful life here, Alex. She is who she is today because of your love and support. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging she needs help beyond what _any_ of us can give her. Sometimes—”

“Love isn’t enough.”

“Love is _everything_ ,” Cat rejoined. “But love sometimes means knowing _we_ can’t be everything. She needs more help than we can give her for this. She needs professional help.”

As Alex nodded her understanding, a cry broke free before she could stop it. Furious at the betrayal, she tried to back away, to hide from Cat’s understanding gaze. Instead, the smaller blonde reached out and pulled her into another strong hug.

The tension slowly left Alex’s body and she let more tears fall as Cat calmly held her.

“You’re her guide star, Alex. No matter what’s ahead of us, she’s always going to be okay as long as she’s got you to help lead her home.”

“Same,” Alex replied shakily as she hugged Cat closer before finally letting go. Swiping her cheeks dry with a mildly embarrassed frown, she finished, “We need to get you some warmer clothes. The average temperature at Clark’s ‘icy bachelor pad’ at this time of year is around thirty degrees Celsius below zero.”

Seeing the disdainful scowl forming on Cat’s expression, Alex tapped her earpiece and called, “Schott, go pull an ECWCS kit from the dispensary for Pink Panther.”

She chuckled at the dual sounds of Cat’s tongue click and Winn’s gasp, followed by his whispered admonishment, “Don’t use that if she’s there with you!”

“Dude, you picked it, you deal with it. Now, hurry up. She’s catching a ride with Superman whenever he gets here.”

Closing out the line, she glanced in time to catch sight of a shadow growing steadily larger against the ombre sky. Cat followed her gaze, smirking as she watched the hero in question carefully land before them.

Recalling their last interaction, she narrowed her eyes, her lips pursing in such a way, the Man of Steel visibly steadied himself against his responding shudder. “Ms. Grant, it’s good to see you’re doing better.”

She huffed dismissively at his false bravado. Deciding it was time to drop all pretenses, she replied, “You’re slow, Kansas. After all I’ve been through recently, I’d really hate to die of hypothermia because you couldn’t get the lead out while flying me to Castle Krypton.”

His jaw hung open for several beats as Cat stared in silent challenge and Alex struggled failingly not to snicker at the situation. The CEO knew she’d won, however, when his surprised gape slowly morphed into the damnably good-natured grin she could never resist when they had worked together at the _Planet_. “Lois said you were coming back around to yourself,” he laughed. 

“Yes, well even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

Eyes twinkling brightly in a way painfully similar to Kara, he chuckled, “I have to ask: How long have you known?”

“Long enough,” was the enigmatic reply he received, punctuated by the familiar high hitch of her eyebrow.

They both paused at the sound of someone scampering toward them down the roof access corridor. Winn quickly came into view, his arms filled with articles of clothing from the ECWCS kit he’d pulled for Cat.

However, he tripped and stumbled to a halt at the sight of Superman observing his approach with a beneficent smile. “Agent Schott, pleasure to see you again.”

“I-I—yes! Ye-yes, pleasure to see you, too, sir!”

_“Winslow.”_

The withering demand of the CEO’s tone whipped Winn’s focus back his reason for being there. “S-sorry, Ms. Grant! Here are the clothes and boots you’ll need for a trip to-to the Fortress.”

Alex caught the way Cat pursed her lips while studying what she was supposed to wear. “You should be okay with the thermal top, the lined pants, definitely the wool socks and lined boots, and the parka and gloves.”

She quirked her lips impishly. “I won’t bother suggesting you mess up your hair with a knit cap.”

“Wise call.”

The CEO took the proffered clothes and made her way behind one of the massive packaged rooftop HVAC units. Alex couldn’t resist laughing once more at how Clark and Winn nervously looked in the opposite direction when they realized she had gone there to change.

When Cat stepped back into view a few minutes later, looking to Alex like she was preparing to scale Mt. Everest, she smirked at the sight of the two flustered men before crossing to Alex’s side. She extended one arm, draped with her previous outfit, and her hand clutching the Louboutins Alex knew damn well cost at least half her monthly rent.

“I’ll guard these well,” she teased as Cat relinquished the stilettos.

With her now free hand, the smaller blonde patted Alex’s shoulder before heading toward Clark. “All right, let’s get going.”

The Kryptonian shuffled forward stiffly, his hands remaining at his sides as he stared at Cat’s parka-clad form. “How, uh, how do you want to do this?”

“Whatever way will get me to the weather I’m now dressed for the fastest,” she huffed. She could feel sweat already beading along the small of her back.

Chagrined, Clark placed his hands on her waist, staring down at the tips of his boots while stepping closer, but not close enough to touch anywhere other than where his hands rested.

“Tell me, will we officially be going steady after this awkward middle school dance?”

The Kryptonian’s head finally snapped up, his expression confused but his hold remaining the same. Cat resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Clark, I will climb you like a capuchin and have Alex send Lois the photo if you don’t stop holding me like I’ve got kryptonite hips.”

Even Winn couldn’t hold back his laughter at the CEO’s sharp comment. Hearing the amusement from both him and Alex, Clark finally relaxed and pulled Cat all the way against him. He easily scooped her into his arms, laughing at the victorious smirk he could see across her lips.

“You’re still the same, Grant.”

“Of course, I am,” she sighed. “You don’t change perfection. Now, let’s go. Chop, chop.”

Understanding there was no refusing those two words from Cat Grant, Clark easily pushed up from the roof and floated into the sky. As they rose, Cat could feel his biomatrix settle around her, strong and warm—though slightly less of each in comparison with Kara’s.

She felt her final thought cut into her with sadness sharp and quick.

“You okay?”

Her voice too thick in her throat, she merely nodded and patted his shoulder. Taking that as all the confirmation he was going to get, he rose into the atmosphere, high enough to avoid encountering planes but low enough to keep Cat safely within human tolerance for the colder, thinner air.

They flew quickly, in silence, diagonally over the North American continent. Cat watched the landscape pass beneath them for a while, guessing at when they crossed over into Canada. However, the rapid temperature drop soon had her shivering and turning her face into Clark’s neck, seeking out his natural Kryptonian warmth. Somehow, he managed to pull her hood up over her head while still holding her securely against him. She softly whispered her thanks, knowing he could hear her.

By the time they began to descend once more, Cat was certain she would never again have feeling in her extremities. Chilling blasts of air swirled around them and she had to swallow down the instant protest that clacked her teeth together when Clark released her from his warm arms.

With an apologetic frown, the Kryptonian stepped away. He leaned down, lifting the Fortress’s massive key from its snowy covering and slipping it into its slot. Cat jumped at the grinding crunch of the door sliding into its recessed pocket.

Holding out his hand, Clark smiled and led the CEO into the main hall. Once the door slid shut again, cutting off the ominous, constant howl of the wind, he stated, “Welcome to the Fortress of Solitude.”

Cat shuffled forward, cursing inwardly at the way she could barely feel the ground beneath her through the thick boots and thicker chill wrapping around her feet. All was soon forgotten, however, as her gaze rose higher and higher to take in the ice sculptures that dominated the center of the main hall.

Clark stepped beside her, his voice a somber murmur. “Those are my parents, Jor-El and Lara.”

He hung his head in what Cat thought at first was reverence. However, he soon sighed. “I built those to remind me that they were more than just names listed in my data crystals. I thought they would help remind me these were my birth parents—the reason I lived and the reason I survived.”

He waved his hands in a dismissive arc. “But this just made them larger than life, literally and figuratively.”

He caught the moment Cat turned her attention to him once more.

“It wasn’t until the first time Kara told me stories of my parents that I actually saw them as people rather than—than historical figures. Until her arrival, I just saw them as these monuments to my heritage. Distant. Detached. Kara made it all real in a way I would have never known if she hadn’t survived.”

Turning his gaze toward Cat, his eyes reflected the hall’s low light in broken refractions.

“I might have been born on Krypton, but Kara was who showed me what it actually means to be _Kryptonian_. And I’ve repaid her by never doing right by her.”

Cat’s brows pinched together into a perplexed wrinkle. “You brought her to a wonderful family that clearly loves her. You made sure she was safe and protected and with people who could teach her how to control her powers and navigate a new world.”

“That should have all been my responsibility. I know Kara still punishes herself for not being the one to raise me here on Earth and teach me about Krypton—but when the roles were reversed, it really is my fault for not taking care of her when she needed me the most. I could have taken her to Metropolis and helped her just the way Eliza and Jeremiah did with me—but I chose my job and my duties as Superman instead.”

Cat flinched at the deep cut of Clark’s familiar confession. Pushing down the always present guilt of her own similar decision, she moved closer and rested a hand against his shoulder. “Kara needed a family prepared to take care of her special needs. You were burning the candle at _five_ ends back then—we all were. There’s no way you could have provided her what she needed, no matter how earnest your desire to protect and teach her. And who’s to say being with you wouldn’t have brought CADMUS to your doorstep just as quickly—or quicker?”

That time when she shivered, she knew it wasn’t from the cold. “You might have both ended up in Lillian Luthor’s horror show while Kara was just a child.”

Clark turned away from Cat, crossing his arms as a buffer against the emotions buffeting him more strongly than the winds swirling around the Fortress. “I saw it die.”

Confused by the non sequitur and uncertain she’d heard him correctly in the midst of a passing howl of wind outside, Cat shuffled closer. “Saw what die?”

“Krypton was 27 light years from Earth. Thanks to Kryptonian technology, our pods had FTL engines—faster-than-light.”

He pointed toward the silhouette of an alien vessel located deeper within the great hall. “Even with FTL, it took me half a year to make it to Earth, but I was lucky that my pod was well ahead of the shock wave from Krypton’s explosion. While Kara was caught in the Phantom Zone for 24 years, I had made it safely to Earth and was growing up here—and the light of Krypton’s last moments was steadily making its way to our galaxy.”

Cat blanched at the realization of what he had meant.

Confirming what he knew Cat had already deduced, Clark continued, “I didn’t learn of my true heritage until I was eighteen years old, and it wasn’t until I finally came out as Superman that I found the courage to find someone who could help me pinpoint Krypton’s former location.

“The astrophysicist I befriended aligned the Kryptonian calendar with ours as best as possible. Using all that, combined with my pod’s navigational logs, he and his team were able to narrow down the time frame of Krypton’s destruction.”

Melancholy shadowed his normally translucent gaze. “Images of Krypton’s explosion finally reached Earth three years after Kara’s arrival.”

He knew there was no way he had wanted Kara to re-live the moment he knew she had never stopped seeing in her nightmares, even after several years on Earth. However, that evening, after he’d watched those images Kara had actually experienced first-hand, he’d flown out to Midvale to surprise Kara with dinner just between them—and then had cried on his flight home for the immeasurable loss he finally understood Kara carried alone as the last true survivor of their world.

“As I watched Krypton’s final moments, all I could think at first was how it would feel if the same thing happened to my home—to _Earth_ —if I had to watch the destruction of everyone and everything I loved and be unable to stop it.”

Cat watched the shadows of imagined loss shift his eyes from cerulean to cobalt. His shoulders slumped from their strong line and he could no longer meet her gaze.

“And then I realized: Kara had done just that. She had suffered and survived as a _child_ what I couldn’t even bear to imagine as an adult. She was stronger than me from the moment she arrived, in every single way.”

Even now, she continued to humble him with her joy and break him with her smile.

Cat turned away from him, drawn toward the alien vessel he’d earlier indicated was his. She recognized it as similar to the pod she’d seen in passing at the DEO’s Desert Containment annex.

Kara’s pod.

She tried to imagine Carter in the pod—tried to imagine putting him inside a vessel smaller than any car she’d ever let him get inside on Earth, to travel an unfathomable distance through the darkest dangers of space. Tried to imagine sending him away from her, away from his home right at the moment of its destruction, on a journey he might just as well not survive. Tried to imagine any possible reason she wouldn’t have joined him, held him in her arms and comforted him every moment of the way, even if it meant through the empty, interminable silence of _vrrosh :dokhahsh_.

_“I just know what it feels like to wonder about a mother’s choices.”_

How many times had Kara wondered at the choices her own mother had made regarding her survival and unintentional damnation to decades lost to Krypton’s prison dimension? How many times had she questioned the choices others had made for her—choices that ultimately set her on the journey that would lead her through pain and loss beyond compare?

When she turned back to face Clark once more, he recognized in her glare the righteous anger she felt at a universe so immune to the suffering it continued to cause.

“She’s stronger than us all. We just need to remind her of this.”

Understanding the unspoken order of Cat’s words, Clark strode to her side and glanced down the corridor leading deeper into the Fortress. With a deep breath, he called out, “Kelex? I need you.”

He felt Cat’s curious gaze but remained focused ahead toward the figure gliding swiftly toward them. He placed a steadying hand on Cat’s back the moment she startled at the unexpected arrival.

“Master Kal-El, how may I be of service?”

“Well. _That’s_ different.”

Flushing slightly at Cat’s tease, Clark explained, “Kelex is a caretaker android, built from the schematics for the same android my parents had when I was born.”

“Handy,” she hummed while watching the service bot hover before them. “Maybe I could get one of those for the office as my new assistant? Might be less murder-y than my last few human assistants turned out to be.”

Clark rubbed nervously at his neck. “Well, this is a recent rebuild of the previous Kelex. Henshaw reprogrammed the last version to attack Kara. She, um, she had to blast it with her heat vision.”

“So, _more_ murder-y,” she sighed.

Catching the disappointed downturn of Cat’s expression, Clark continued, “Kelex, where is my cousin?”

“Lady Kara has secluded herself in the meditation chamber and has requested privacy.”

Even as he caught the curious quirk of Cat’s brow at how Kelex addressed Kara, he replied, “This is Lady Catherine of the House of Grant, Kelex. She is extremely important to Lady Kara. You will extend to her the same courtesy and assistance as you do to Lady Lois.”

Clark was certain he had never nor ever again would hear Cat make the sound she made at his final words. “ _Lady_ Lois? Not with that mouth.”

“Pretty sure I was there when you told Perry the only way he could spew so much shit every day was because he had shit for brains.”

Cat acknowledged his words with a half-hearted shrug. “Only after he told me he liked ‘mouthy broads.’ I was simply giving consideration to his preferences.”

As Cat watched Clark tip his head back in a well-needed moment of laughter, she reveled in the glimpses of familiarity in the man before her—not just of the similarities in Kara she had noticed even before understanding them but also of the man she had long considered a friend.

“I’ve missed you, Kansas.”

In a surprising move, he wrapped Cat in a hug she found simultaneously comforting and constricting. “I’ve missed you, too, Grant.”

After a pause, he asked, “Although, am I supposed to be giving you some kind of shovel talk right now? I’m not sure how this goes.”

With a chiding smack to his arm, Cat leaned back and replied, “We both know Alex is the only one capable of carrying through on shovel talk threats in Kara’s honor.”

As he once more allowed himself the luxury of laughter, he nodded in agreement. “She’s scared the hell out of me since way before she joined the DEO.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Her smirk tipped downward slightly. “You’re welcome to give me such a speech, however, if you believe it’s warranted. Not that it would change anything, mind you.”

Clark gave a half-grin at her words, knowing how Cat was far more altruistic than she would ever let on. Finally, he said, “Love looks very good on you both.”

Her whole countenance brightened at his words.

The moment shifted quickly, however, as he stared once more down the corridor.

“With the flight here, she might not have the energy to fly you home.”

“Then we’ll figure something out—together.”

Breathing deeply and fighting against the chill threatening to shiver again through her body, she stepped out of his hold and crossed her arms tightly in front of her. “Go home, Clark.”

After a moment of debate, he slowly began stepping backward. “Kelex will take care of you. If you need me to return, he knows how to contact me.”

Nodding her understanding, she waved once before shooing him away.

Once alone with the service bot hovering quietly before her, Cat paused a moment to calm her suddenly racing heart. She took the opportunity to study Kelex.

“I bet Winslow could figure out a way to protect your programming from future hacking.”

The android’s voice hummed out in multilayered harmonics. “I am unfamiliar with a Winslow.”

With a slightly offended _tsk_ , she began walking toward the corridor. “He’s an excellent—friend.”

She felt her cheeks flush with warmth at her stumbling edit, even if Kelex didn’t seem to understand. The bot floated to her side, guiding her toward the meditation chamber.

“Do I need some kind of code to open the door?”

Before she had finished her question, the door began to slide into a recess in the wall.

“Will there be anything else, Lady Catherine?”

Fighting back the eye roll she felt straining for control, Cat fluttered her fingers in the air dismissively. “You can close the door once I’m inside and then you can leave.”

Stepping forward, Cat forced herself to stride confidently into the chamber. She registered the sound of the door slipping shut behind her but she was focused more on the soft susurrus of foreign words that filled the room.

Kara knelt in the center of the chamber, cloaked in white robes— _rrahdhuhs_ robes, Cat recalled. She held her arms in a rigid cross against her chest. Her fingers dug deeply into her shoulders and, as Cat moved quietly around the edge of the room, she could see Kara’s expression was anything but composed.

For several more minutes, Cat silently observed as the hero filtered through the same meditation, growing more despondent with each completion. Finally, with an agitated sigh, the hero rose to her feet and opened her eyes. Her irises pulsed with an uneven iridescence as she glared at Cat.

“He should not have brought you here.”

Cat ignored the ire she felt sparking through her nerves, opting instead for a more calculated response. “Unfortunately, there’s no landing strip for my private jet, so he had to suffice.”

The irregular flicker of Kara’s gaze intensified as she muttered something softly in Kryptonese.

“While they do say communication is key for successful relationships, I’m fairly certain they meant communication _both_ parties can understand.”

When Kara merely continued to glower in silence, Cat quirked an eyebrow and sighed. “I know we told you and you have overheard a great deal that has upset you, Kara—and rightfully so—but you can’t keep running away and hiding. It’s not fair to me.”

She gritted her teeth against the betraying crack of her words. “It’s not fair to _us_.” 

Kara finally allowed her gaze to drop to the ground. Her defensive posture deflated into a broken slump. “Maybe—maybe there shouldn’t be an _us_ anymore.”

The smaller blonde stared at her with deathly intent while growling, “Don’t you dare.”

The sound of Cat’s fury broke through the hero with sharp intensity, but she refused to give in.

“You almost died!”

Heat poured outward from Kara’s now constantly glowing glare, tears turning to steam before getting the chance to slip from her eyes. In a voice quickly hitching higher and higher under the squeeze of her growing panic, she cried, “She captured you because of me. She hurt you because of me. She nearly killed you _because of me_!”

Every statement drew her closer until Cat could feel the currents of Kara’s heat vision rippling the air between them. “They had to cut you open and restart your heart! If Lena hadn’t been able to reprogram the-the nanobots—i-if she ha-hadn’t been able t-to s-stah-stop them—”

The light of her heat vision flickered into darkness and the hero’s entire body slumped downward, puddling at Cat’s feet in a wordless lament of incomprehensible sobs.

Dropping to her knees, Cat placed her hand beneath the hero’s quivering chin and pushed upward until Kara finally complied. Vision completely blurred by tears, she gasped out once more, “You almost died.”

“Open my jacket, Kara.”

When the hero remained motionless minus the confused flutter of her eyelids and a jaw hanging agape in bewilderment at the non sequitur, Cat reached down for one of her hands. Lifting it to rest against her chest, she once more entreated, “Open my jacket.”

Fingers trembled so vigorously the hero nearly couldn’t comply. Cat patiently watched until Kara fumbled to unzip the parka, allowing it to fall open. With gentle moves, Cat grasped one of Kara’s hands and lifted it once more, this time pressing it over her heart. She traced Kara’s fingers along where Iovino had broken her open—where the doctor had thrust her hands into the smaller blonde’s chest and manually pumped her heart back to life.

“Tell me what you feel.”

The hero stared so intently, Cat knew she was looking deeper, watching the rhythmic thrum of the muscle pushing life through her body. “Your heartbeat,” she finally whispered.

“My heart beats because of you.”

Steeling herself against the protests she knew were inevitable, Cat clutched at Kara’s hand and pressed it harder against her sternum. “It beats because of you, Kara,” she repeated, refusing to give any ground on the matter. “I would be dead if it weren’t for your blood. Lillian Luthor might have concocted the serum, but _you_ saved me.”

She lifted her other hand and ran a finger along the path of Kara’s tears. “You have saved me in so many ways, and now you’ve given me so much more than just my life, Kara. You’ve given me a gift I can’t imagine sharing with anyone else—that I _never_ want to share with another person as long as I live, however long that might be.”

The hero’s expression crumpled with guilt at Cat’s final words. “Carter and Adam—”

“Yes,” Cat cut off, not wanting to give Kara the chance to put her own sorrow into words. “But, Kara, my life extension doesn’t mean a reduction to _their_ lives. Adam and Carter will live however long they’re meant to live—do all the things they’re meant to do.”

She felt the same tightness from earlier in her chest at the thought of watching her boys age in a way she might never do again.

“It will hurt,” she softly conceded. “But it won’t hurt _them_. That’s all that matters to me.”

She could tell by how Kara once more hung her head, she had done little to alleviate the hero’s guilt. Inching forward on her knees, she pulled off her gloves and pressed both hands against Kara’s cheeks. In the softest whisper, she confessed, “And selfishly? I get more time with you.”

To Cat’s surprise, Kara gave a forceful shake of her head, her expression growing unsettlingly dark. “I will never be worth what she did to you.”

Cat carefully thread her fingers together behind Kara’s head, her eyes overflowing with the love she felt for the woman before her. “You are worth _everything_ to me.”

Before Kara could gather new argument against Cat’s confession, the smaller blonde leaned into a kiss at first slow and tender—soon enough insistent and rapacious. The feel of Kara’s lips fully upon hers after so long was like tinder to a dying flame. Grip tightening in Kara’s wild locks, Cat dragged herself closer, inhaling sharply at the burn of Kara’s fingers slipping beneath her shirt and curling against her sides. When the hero’s moan vibrated against her tongue, she refused to hold back her satisfied smile as she slowly pulled away to take in her hero.

The flare of Kara’s pupils popped instantly when she re-opened her eyes, blue irises compressing to outlines around a deliciously hungry darkness. Cat gasped in surprise at the feel of Kara floating them both upward, her grip tightening in Kara’s thick hair. The hero positioned herself to float on her back, Cat easily slipping into the cradle of her lap. She felt the smaller blonde’s knees press against her waist as she quickly gripped Kara’s shoulders for better balance. She ran her hands again beneath Cat’s shirt, fingers pressing into the small of her back as she drew her closer.

As they moved through the air, Cat caught the sound of the meditation chamber’s door opening for them, but she refused to look away from Kara’s stare. The hero had always been so beautifully transparent with her emotions, at least to Cat. As she watched, she could see the microshifts of guilt and longing, of lust and suffering—of devotion unbroken and anger unrepentant.

What she felt through Kara’s touch was needful and insistent—and barely restrained. The dig of Kara’s fingers into her back was slightly on the wrong side of tolerable, but she focused instead on the desire in Kara’s gaze she knew was driving the desperate grip.

She slipped further into Kara’s lap, readjusting the hug of her thigh muscles enough to control her descent against Kara into a slow undulation that fluttered the hero’s eyelids and tightened the cords of her neck in bold relief beneath her skin.

_“,cathryn,.”_

As the name rose in a growl from her throat, she twisted them in flight. Cat dropped from the unexpected turn, her surprised huff lost to the _floomph_ of her body landing in a pile of pillows and blankets suddenly beneath her.

Before she could get her bearings, she felt the familiar brush of Kara unleashing her super speed. She gasped at the sensation of losing her many layers of clothing, more from surprise than cold. Whatever chamber Kara had brought her to was surprisingly and comfortably warm.

Still, Kara tucked the blankets around them more snugly as she settled the now bare length of her own body over Cat’s. Whispering the smaller blonde’s name once more in the now familiar Kryptonian flourish, Kara began working a path along Cat’s throat, her mouth switching between needful ministrations and resolute whispers.

The smaller blonde arched upward at the unrelenting sensation of her skin bathed in the promises of Kara’s alien tongue. She instinctively buried her hand into Kara’s hair, pulling fiercely to make Kara understand that she needed more, though not even she was certain what _more_ she needed.

The answer came in the press of Kara’s tongue into the hollow of her neck, swirling hard, insistent patterns as she slipped the fingers of one hand between the satisfying slickness of Cat’s lips. At the sensation, even Cat was sure that the noise she emitted was as close to purring as she’d ever come before.

Abandoning restraint to her hunger for the woman beneath her, Kara gathered more wetness along her fingers before driving three inside as deeply as she could. The responding clench of muscle quickly set her into a steady pace of thrusting and retreating that soon filled the room with the music of Cat’s building pleasure.

Legs wrapped around Kara’s waist, squeezing tightly as Cat set her own countering movements. She dug her nails into the broad curves of Kara’s shoulders and huffed, “Ha-harder, Kara. _Please_.”

More than eager to comply, Kara quickened her pace and increased her force, the muscles of her forearm visibly flexing with each stretch and curl of her fingers. She bit her lip as she focused on every muscle movement, no matter how slight, through Cat’s body, expectation bright in her gaze.

When pleasure bowed Cat’s body upward sharply, Kara floated up enough to give her space to move. Shoulders dug into the bedding beneath her even as her legs tightened enough around Kara to spear herself completely on the hero’s fingers, still moving in slowing rhythms within her.

“Enough.”

The word barely formed on its tumble from Cat’s exhalation, but Kara understood and complied. Slipping her fingers carefully out, she wiped them against the blanket before grabbing its edge and looping it loosely over their bodies as she settled beside Cat.

To her surprise, Cat shifted them both with a quick roll, Kara landing on her back with Cat slotting comfortably against her. As she propped herself up on one arm, she let her free hand drift slowly across Kara’s collarbones, down the valley between her breasts, over the undulations of her ribs. She froze, however, as she swept her fingers across the once-more unblemished skin of Kara’s stomach. She refused to fight back her tears at the feeling of Kara’s body reacting instinctively, muscles tightening and whole body pulling away.

Steadying her hand so it hovered close to Kara’s skin without touching, Cat choked out a cry of pure anguish, her eyes slamming shut as her forehead fell forward against Kara’s shoulder.

She felt Kara’s hand finally flatten hers against her stomach. The hero whispered roughly, “This pain healed.”

Her other hand pressed against Cat’s back, muscles shivering beneath her touch as the smaller blonde allowed herself the tears she couldn’t hold back. When Kara felt Cat’s body finally relax once more against her, she nuzzled into thick blonde curls and let the familiar scent of lavender and sandalwood soothe her. Soft skin pebbled beneath her fingertips as she stroked the length of Cat’s spine, tracing the bump of each vertebrae with slow care.

So delicate. So precious. So— _fragile_.

The word sparked panic in her eyes as she trailed her gaze over features once more focused on her and reflecting Cat’s understanding.

Hands again reached out, this time cupping the warmth of Kara’s cheeks. Cat waited patiently for the hero to settle her skittish gaze as it rushed to take in every nuance of her expression. When blue finally locked to green, she firmly stated, “I’m here, my love. We’re both here, together and safe.”

The hero barely nodded before pulling Cat into the encompassing press of her arms. She felt Cat return her embrace with impressive strength, resting her head over the solid thump of the hero’s heart. Needing the comfort of Cat’s physical presence, she held tightly, knowing Cat would let her hug her for as long as she needed.

Her mind raced with the wonder and horror of the gift lying within her arms. The truth of Kara’s indeterminate lifespan in juxtaposition with the humans around her had always been one of her greatest pains since her arrival on Earth. She had honestly lost count of the number of tears she had already shed for the inevitable deaths of those she loved most on this world. In her darkest moments, she had even wished she’d remained imprisoned within _vrrosh :dokhahsh,_ if only because there she was safe from having to lose everyone all over again—and again and again.

And now Cat had an extended life—a span that might even match her own—and all she could think of was the unbearable possibility of having this gift snatched away by Lillian Luthor.

“We can’t go back.”

Cat frowned at the way Kara’s voice cracked against the words. “It’s all right, darling. We can stay here until you’ve regained your strength.”

She felt Kara tense beneath her. “No. We can’t go back there—I can’t take you back where she’ll hurt you again because of me!”

“Kara—”

“N-no!”

Finally pressing herself up once more onto her elbow, Cat rested her hand against Kara’s chest and studied her with concerned understanding. “Kara, even if I agreed to hiding, CADMUS knows about the Fortress, remember?”

She quickly swiped away some of the tears of disappointment that began to fall from Kara’s eyes, letting her palm linger against the hero’s cheek as she did. She frowned, an almost petulant sigh escaping her. “Kind of puts my wealth into a depressing light when there’s literally nowhere on this planet I could buy us transit that would be safe from Lillian and her cybernetic goon.” 

The sound of Kara’s hard swallow drew her out of her pensive disposition. All was forgotten under the odd gleam in the hero’s eyes.

“What are you thinking?”

A curious, welcome confidence began to grow in Kara’s gaze, her lips tipping up ever so faintly at the corners into the slightest of smiles. “That I know a place we can go where no one could find us—and I can get us there for free.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so hoped to be farther along with this story by now. I had honestly hoped to be to the point where I had planned to introduce Kara's new suit--something I hinted at in The Depth of Darkness and that I suspect will happen IRL tonight in Supergirl's S5 premiere. I have to admit, the show's new suit looks amazing and really close to how I envisioned this story's new suit. You get a few hints of what's to come for my story's suit upgrade in this chapter. All I have to say about the show's new suit is, it better have some serious tech upgrades, similar to the tech in Flash's suit. Supergirl needs some GPS, some vitals telemetry monitoring, some solar power storage, and a solid kryptonite shield (which is what I'm hoping the gold notch at her neckline will include). Also, #spoilers for what's coming here, LOL. 
> 
> In another weird parallel with the show, I decided to use Phil Baker rather than create another original smarmy politician (as if I need to create imaginary ones of those). Honestly, Baker fit perfectly in line with what I needed, and I liked how it was another way to tie in my series to the show beyond the S1 links I've been steadily building. Plus, S4 has been the best season so far from CW's control of the show, so I'm okay with borrowing a bit from there. I plan on borrowing someone else later...but you're going to have to wait on that. #SorryNoSpoilersOnThis
> 
> I will spoil this slightly: There is a great Superman comic that introduced the idea of Kal-El watching the death of Krypton when the images finally reached Earth. It's a story called “Star Light, Star Bright,” in which they pinpoint the "real" location of Krypton and determine it was 27 light years away from Earth. It also features a real-life guest star who helps figure out all this information and helps Superman truly mourn the loss of his home. I used it here because I loved the idea of juxtaposing Clark's upset at imagining the loss of Earth, which is truly his home, versus his realization of how this was the last thing Kara watched before her entrapment for 24 years. He might be the strongest man on Earth, but he's got nothing on Kara Zor-El. 
> 
> Fun fact: There actually is a blood test designed to help healthcare providers pinpoint location and severity of pain. It's an attempt to determine more specifically a patient's need for opioids, to help combat opioid dependence and addiction. 
> 
> ECWCS stands for Extended Cold Weather Clothing System.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Luthor makes it clear what loyalty earns--and what happens to those whose loyalty no longer serves her purpose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard warning about Dr. Luthor. Even without being too explicit, you know she's not going to stop being her special brand of extra.

It was something in the irises, she thought—something shimmering and elusive in a way that drew her in further. It wavered along the edges, pulsed like summer lightning across a dark violet sky. She followed the prismatic swirl that spiraled inward toward mirror-bright pupils, her own dilating in response to the mesmerizing colors and patterns.

“I really didn’t like the way you sedated me earlier.” 

The words filtered through her brain with a tingling anticipation. Present, too, was a promise of more, which she realized on a distant and frightened level, she had no wish or will to refuse. 

“I think you should sedate yourself, just to see how unpleasant a feeling it is.” 

The words tethered themselves to her limbs, invisible marionette strings looping around her fingers and moving them to the rhythm of the casual command. 

She filled the syringe with sedative and slid the needle into her vein, all while knowing with frustrating detachment how her control now resided in the kaleidoscope undertow of an inescapable stare. 

When the sedative finally snapped the strings and the nurse slumped unimpeded to the floor, the patient looked up, pleasure bright in every aspect of her expression. 

“I told you, Doctor. I knew this procedure would be a success.” 

Lillian couldn’t help the responding amusement to find its way to her lips, even as exhaustion weighted her every move. Eyes the most captivating shade of violet stared back at her—the Jorvanian eyes Lillian had saved for just this moment. 

_“You have more than earned the reward I’m preparing for you.”_

She had known the moment she had assigned Eve to CatCo which “upgrade” she would save for her assistant as reward for her work. The Jorvanian’s particular alien enhancement was a power she suspected Eve would wield with both joy and unnerving precision. After all, the woman’s natural charm already gave her an inherently hypnotic quality to which Lillian had watched many succumb, including her own son. Granting her the true power of mesmerism ultimately seemed too serendipitous to resist. 

Of course, discovering a way to sync Jorvanian to human physiology had been a challenge she at times thought she might never be able to crack. 

The primary issue had been how differently the alien’s occipital lobe had functioned. Located in a completely different area of a brain sectioned into tightly patterned front and back hemispheres, the Jorvanian’s occipital lobe quickly proved itself completely incompatible with a human brain. Frustratingly, it also proved to be necessary in controlling the hypnotic elements of the corresponding eyes. 

Just as with Kryptonians, Jorvanians processed radiation from the Earth’s sun far differently than humans could. Yellow sunlight refined through the Jorvanian occipital lobe powered their polymorphic irises, mutating them into patterns that proved highly hypnotic to humans. 

Understanding the necessity of somehow duplicating the Jorvanian’s way of processing sunlight, Lillian applied her usual persistence to the task. Using Jorvanian DNA, she developed an aggressive gene therapy that, when injected into a human patient, not only would suppress rejection of the Jorvanian organs but also would modify cells to match the functionality of a human occipital lobe with its Jorvanian counterpart. 

It had taken a great deal of trial and error, but in the end, she had discovered a way to convince Eve’s brain that part of it was now Jorvanian without having to do an actual transplant—something she had learned with Thomas Rieger was a laborious and potentially pointless procedure when it came to melding alien and human anatomies. 

She still would need to perform a much smaller though no less complicated transplant, however. With a small group of her most trusted medical staff, Lillian spent most of the night on the surgery to swap Eve’s eyes and optic nerves with the Jorvanian’s. After nearly seven hours, she completed what she could only wait until Eve came out of anesthesia to confirm had been a successful operation. 

Instead, Eve had awoken in pain so excruciating, Lillian nearly had her sedated again just to relieve her from her suffering. They both knew, however, how Eve needed a clear head to help walk Lillian through diagnosing the issue and seeing if it was something she could fix. 

For almost an hour, she had fought through what Lillian diagnosed as pain from her occipital lobe’s reshaped neural pathways struggling to connect and communicate with the newly transplanted eyes and optic nerves. As soon as Eve could at least confirm sight through her new eyes, Lillian had given her the _kryptosanguis_ serum, unwilling to prolong her assistant’s suffering any longer. 

Just as it had with Alex Danvers, the serum quickly took control of Eve’s immune system, enhancing and expediting her healing abilities. Lillian could see the pain recede from Eve’s expression, her grimace relaxing first into exhausted slackness and finally unconsciousness helped along by the nurse’s too-eager sedation. 

As her assistant slept, Lillian had remained by her bedside, ignoring her staff’s offers to stay in her place so she could take her own much-needed rest. Instead, she kept watch over Eve’s readings and worked through scenarios in her mind of how, if the transplants still caused Eve pain, she could reverse the procedure now that she had infused Eve with _kryptosanguis_ serum. 

The cheeky grin and sparkling gaze now aimed her way, however, confirmed her worry was ultimately unfounded. The demonstration she’d just witnessed also confirmed her assumptions regarding the match of patient to powers were spot-on accurate. 

“What does it feel like?” 

Eve tipped her head to the side, her irises a flux of complementary colors against their base violet. Lillian felt the tempting pull of the stained glass patterns—a strange tug at her thoughts that hinted at the possibility or threat of more. 

“It’s powerful. I can feel it back here,” and she ran her hand under her hair and along the curve of her skull. “It’s almost like a-a constant vibration.” 

She laughed softly, her shoulders hitching upward in an amused gesture. “It also makes my eyes feel like they itch from the inside. I hope that goes away.” 

Her gaze diverted down toward the unconscious nurse at Lillian’s feet. 

“It’s fine if it doesn’t, though. It’s worth it.” 

Lillian hummed, her brow creasing in thought. “Still, I’ll see if there might be something I can do for that. Great power shouldn’t come with great discomfort.” 

She smiled at Eve’s shy response before extending a hand to her. 

“Come with me. I want you to finally see another successful upgrade I was able to make in large part because of you.” 

Accepting the offer without hesitation, she slipped from the exam table and happily hopped over the nurse’s body. The doctor released her hand with a huff of laughter and guided her out into the main corridor. 

As they moved through the facility under Lillian’s lead, she queried, “Are there any differences with your normal range of vision?” 

“Colors are _intense_. I can recognize them, but they’re very saturated. They also—” 

She lifted her hands in front of her, flexing her fingers in quick, rhythmic bursts. 

“They pulse now, almost like they each have their own frequency. If I focus, I can steady them, but that also causes the vibrating sensation in my head to stop.” 

Stepping to the side of the corridor, Lillian stopped their journey. She looked into Eve’s eyes and asked, “Can you do it right now? Stop the colors from pulsing?” 

Eve focused her attention on the sea storm silver of Lillian’s eyes. Several seconds later, however, the silver stilled to an intense shade of gunmetal gray. 

The effort also stilled the swirl within her own irises, which Lillian marked with a pleased hum. Keeping her own gaze steady for the first time since Eve’s demonstration, she offered, “I believe you’ve already discovered how to control your superpower, Ms. Teschmacher.” 

Expression perking instantly, Eve once more let her control slip, the colors of her eyes sparkling jewel tones of motion. 

With a blink, Lillian broke her own gaze, leading them once more along the corridor. 

When they stopped before a window overlooking the barren desert landscape that surrounded the facility, Lillian waited for Eve to scan the terrain. 

In the middle distance, she watched a recognizable form running an obstacle course at noticeably inhuman speed. Eve broke into a massive smile as she watched him rapidly climb a rope and swing himself over a series of hurdles. 

Her eyes widened, however, at the sight of him swinging free of the rope after he passed over the final hurdle, arcing himself high into the air—and hovering unassisted for a solid ten-count before descending to the ground at a controlled speed. 

“How? How can he do that?” 

“Dr. Danvers has discovered yet more untapped powers of the Thanagarian nth metal I used to strengthen his bones. In addition to this surprising bonus, we’ve also measured an increase in the strength and speed L-Corp reported as the limits of the bionic implants.” 

She focused on Eve, lips slipping into a slow smile. “All these gifts, finally ours for the taking.” 

Matching the doctor’s delight, Eve sighed, “I knew you would convince him to join us.” 

Lillian bowed her head at the statement. “I don’t think he’s completely committed yet—but I believe I know who can finish the deal for me.” 

Eve once more perked at the statement, her joy untamed. “I will make sure Dr. Danvers sees the importance of joining CADMUS’s fight.” 

“You’re both fools if you think you can trust him.” 

Both women turned toward the approaching form, Eve shooting him a glare that increased the swirl of colors through her irises into a turgid muddle. 

Lillian, however, merely sighed, her gaze cooling with the first signs of exhaustion to reappear since Eve’s awakening. 

“I’ve had a long night and I’m in no mood for your paranoia, Henshaw.” 

“My paranoia is all that has kept this project from failing at times.” 

His face, once more shredded by bullet fire absorbed during the DEO’s raid of the Moracinda facility, failed at showing any of the raw emotion she could hear in his voice. However, his words hit just as he had hoped they would. 

Any trace of more relaxed emotions froze into Luthor’s typically impassive mask, but her eyes flickered with betraying darkness. 

“We can _finish_ this conversation in my office.” 

Henshaw caught the sharp hook of her emphasis. What was left of his lips hitched into what she knew would have been a full sneer. Shifting past him without further acknowledgement, she called over her shoulder, “I won’t be long, Eve.” 

He growled at the insinuation of her declaration as he moved to match Luthor’s long strides. 

Inside her office, she continued to her desk. Rather than sit down, however, she rested her palms against the desk top and stated, “Shut the door.” 

“You should reconsider the wisdom of addressing me as if I were nothing more than one of your minions, awaiting your orders,” he snapped even as he obeyed her command. 

Her shoulders shifted, sloping down into a surprisingly disappointed slump. Her tone dipped with resignation as she watched him cross the office. 

“You have been valuable to me for years—but your liability is rapidly beginning to outweigh your worth.” 

“Liability?” 

Brow cocking at the ragged timbre of Henshaw’s voice, she noted, “Your temper, for one. I’ve willingly ignored your inability to control your rage more times than I care to recall. However, the inconsistency of your moods makes you unreliable. I need someone dependable by my side.” 

“You need— _you_ —” 

Light glinted off the exposed metal of his jaw as he clenched his teeth together and glared in bemused silence. The revealed lens of his cybernetic eye pulsed an icy blue. 

“You promised me back my life! My honor! Yet that Martian dog still wears _my_ face and runs _my_ DEO while you do nothing!” 

“ _I_ will take back the DEO in due time.” Her tone hardened with icy resolve. “However, to complete my task, I first need to take care of you.” 

She suspected were his features still intact, his confusion would be written into every minute shift of his expression. 

“I owe you a great deal of gratitude, to be honest. You actually put this portion of the plan into motion—quite perfectly, I might add. The moment you made certain Miranda Crane’s assistant saw who had just killed the senator, you sealed the fates of both men wearing the face of Hank Henshaw.” 

“I _am_ Hank Henshaw!” 

Unnerving detachment once more blanked Luthor’s expression. “I need the public to believe the Martian wearing Hank Henshaw’s face is now the _only_ Hank Henshaw. I need them to believe he is who killed Miranda Crane—and Jim Harper as well, once we leak suggestions through the media about the truth of his death.” 

She pulled something from her pocket. “I need only one Hank Henshaw for this next phase—and it’s not you.” 

The flick of her finger was so quick, Henshaw had no time to react before the power source embedded within the base of his spine deactivated. His body hit the floor with unimpeded force, limbs stiffly locked in place as a default setting. 

Luthor tossed the remote she had pulled from her pocket into the top drawer of her desk, which she quickly locked. 

Without another look, she grabbed the tablet from her desk and strode out of her office. Passing a med tech on her way, she ordered, “Remove the cyborg from my office and decommission him. Make sure you drain his power cell completely before you disassemble him, and use the lower-level bunker storage to lock away the pieces.” 

She ignored the paling features as the med tech processed her instructions, only listening long enough to catch his shaky, “Y-yes, Doctor.” 

Speeding up her pace, she finally relaxed into a smile at the sight of Eve still watching Jeremiah from where Lillian had left her. 

“Did you finally shut down his attitude?” 

“Along with everything else,” Lillian rejoined, enjoying the laugh her comment earned from her assistant. 

Happy to oblige Eve’s amusement, she once more took to the corridor. “Why don’t you accompany me in giving Jeremiah the good news about Supergirl?” 

She looked askance at Eve as they walked together. “I believe you’ll have no trouble making him agree, no?” 

“Of course, Doctor.” 

The walk down to the bay entrance was short, Lillian barely having enough time to call down to the agent who had been running Jeremiah through that morning’s training session. However, as they approached, they saw both trainer and trainee entering from the bright desert landscape. 

Dismissing the trainer with a nod, Lillian called out, “You make those workout sessions look far too enjoyable, Dr. Danvers.” 

Jeremiah’s smile flashed brightly against the smudge of morning stubble he’d yet to shave. “I have to admit, working out before was never this much fun.” 

He wiped his face with the towel draped around his neck. To his surprise, Lillian sat down on one of the benches positioned along the bay wall near the entrance and gestured for him to join her. As he sat, he self-consciously joked, “I apologize. I’m afraid I probably smell like desert, sweat, and whatever lubricates my bionics.” 

She indulged his self-deprecation with a smile. “I’ve been watching you since my return to this facility. Your progress is remarkable.” 

She caught the way he traced his fingers along the undulations of his opposite knuckles, a pensive scowl darkening his features. “I’m only what you built me to be,” he finally replied. 

“That is most assuredly not true. Trust me. Not everyone I’ve bestowed with such powers has been as persistent or focused as you’ve been.” 

He piqued slightly, his chestnut gaze shifting up toward her. “You’ve done this to others?” 

At his clear curiosity, Lillian directed her attention toward Eve, who stood quietly to his right. “I believe it is my duty to make sure humanity has every advantage we need to maintain control of _our_ planet. Sometimes that requires enhancing our own kind with what our enemies take for granted.” 

Reaching out toward Eve, she waved her assistant into his line of sight. “No better way to fight them than with their own weaponry, right, Ms. Teschmacher?” 

Eve smiled shyly at the question before turning her gaze fully upon Jeremiah. “Of course, Doctor.” 

As the swirling pulse of colors began once more to circle her pale irises, she kept her gaze locked to his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Danvers.” 

Nodding at the greeting, Jeremiah cocked his head to the side, his stare growing slightly unfocused. Eve kept her gaze steady for several more seconds before asking, “Do you know what an extraordinary gift you’ve received?” 

His unblinking gaze shifted in time with the prismatic spin of colors as Luthor replied to Eve’s question. 

“You are the only one I’ve given bionic limbs, Jeremiah. You’re also the only one I’ve ever enhanced with Thanagarian nth metal, which has made you the only human on Earth not even a Kryptonian could destroy.” 

The mention of Kryptonians finally broke his focus, his glare switching toward Luthor. 

Purposefully ignoring the rage roiling from his body, she continued, “We had no idea of the metal’s speed enhancement or its flight potential, however. You’re the first to discover and harness these powers.” 

Even with the shroud of dark anger around him, pride straightened his posture, gleamed in his gaze. “I need to make use of every weapon in my arsenal when I go up against Kara.” 

Jeremiah caught the shift in Lillian’s demeanor. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” 

“Something good,” she quickly replied, hoping to calm him from his noticeably rising concern. Handing him the tablet she’d brought with her, she smiled, “I promise you, it’s something _very_ good.” 

Cautiously accepting the device, Jeremiah hit the button to start the video already queued on the screen. The unedited version of the video Henshaw had recorded of Luthor’s vivisection of Kara started, filling the bay with the sounds, first of Kara desperately begging Luthor for mercy and then of Kara’s brutalized screams as Luthor proceeded, the Kryptonian’s pleas ignored. 

Throat muscles bobbed rapidly as he swallowed back rising nausea, his eyes widening with horror he couldn’t control. His thumb ran along the edge of the tablet, slipping closer to the video image of Kara’s face with each pass. The moment she stopped screaming, he dropped the tablet into his lap, facing downward to spare him any more views. 

He could feel perspiration once more, this time a cold, clinging sweat that chilled him down to a place he had thought already emptied of any feeling for the girl—the _woman_ —in the video. The sickened burn in his gut and the sting at the back of his eyes betrayed him, however, with proof of how deeply Kara Zor-El had found her way into his heart. 

Luthor frowned, concerned by the emotional response. “This is a _gift_ , Jeremiah. I harvested enough genetic material from the Kryptonian to fuel _years_ of research—and I gave her the death she deserved for what she did to your daughter.” 

“I—I never—” 

Swallowing once more, this time barely holding back the sickness he felt now scorching its way up his throat, he croaked, “We’re not supposed to cause harm.” He tapped a finger against the tablet, the case cracking under the force. “This—this _torture_ —you made her suffer!” 

“Tell me, Jeremiah, do you think she spared any sympathy for Alex when she snapped her neck?” 

Ignoring the way he fought back the urge to throw up at her question, she pointed toward the discarded tablet. “Would you like me to pull up the photos of what she did to your daughter? Let you do a side-by-side comparison? Do you think, after that, you could still lecture me on the Hippocratic oath?” 

The questions landed with brutal force, jolting Jeremiah back in his seat. She pressed onward, refusing to let his revulsion distract her. 

“I have seen and lost enough to know: Humanity should be reserved for _humans_. Not these creatures,” she snapped, waving at the tablet. “I made certain the Kryptonian received what she deserved. I thought—well, to be honest, Jeremiah, I’m beginning to seriously doubt what I thought.” 

At the sight of Luthor rising from her seat, Jeremiah held out a hand, his tone instantly acquiescent. “Please, wait. I-I just—you have to understand, she was a little girl when I last saw her. Superman brought her to us so we could protect her. And we failed her. _I_ failed her. I told the Martian about her , and he did this—all of this! _He_ made her do these awful things. He’s who should have been on that table—not her!” 

Settling back onto the bench, Lillian quietly observed him. Her expression was slow to break its cool fury. “You’re right. The Martian should be held accountable—and he will be. You will help see to that, I promise. I have put into motion a means to let all of Earth know: We are here and we are not going to let these alien animals infect our planet and take what is ours.” 

Eve once more drew Jeremiah’s attention. “We are going to lead humanity into a new era of strength that will take back our planet and show the universe our power is not to be doubted or disregarded.” 

The colors in her irises swirled to a maelstrom of motion as her excitement grew. “We will lead the way, Dr. Danvers. We will be at the forefront of humanity’s evolution, not just as a species but as a galactic dominator. We will stand against the invaders—and in time, we will pursue them back to their own planets and teach those who would still dare to challenge us that their attempts are futile.” 

Deep within Jeremiah’s thoughts, beneath the distorting fog he felt rolling through him with each circle of color he watched around Eve’s eyes, he recognized an unspoken truth in her declarations. Rallying what felt like quickly dwindling control, he forced his gaze toward Lillian and queried, “Who are you?” 

The smile he received in response was revelatory and damning in equal measure. It was Eve, however, who responded, drawing him once more into the chaotic snare of her gaze. “You already know who we are, Dr. Danvers. We are humanity’s greatest defenders.” 

She moved closer and brushed her fingers through the damp thickness of his hair. “We are the champions of your vengeance and the only way you will get back what is left of what the alien traitors stole from you.” 

Lillian watched with candid wonder as Eve continued to draw him more and more deeply under her sway. When she finally spoke, she tempered her voice enough to refrain from drawing his attention away from Eve’s captivating gaze. 

“We will help you save your wife from the Martian and his DEO, and we will help you mete out upon him the justice long overdue for all the harm he has caused you. All we ask in return is that you help us warn the True Ascendants of Earth about what is coming—what we can fight together.” 

A beautiful brightness flickered in Eve’s gaze and she laughed a delightful, bubbly sound. “You will speak for us, Doctor. You will tell Earth the truth the false media has hidden for decades, and you will lead them once more out of the darkness of deceit. Will you do this for us, Dr. Danvers?” 

Unable to summon the strength to resist, Jeremiah nodded his submission. Once more, he felt the distant flicker of refusal, born of a knowing he no longer held the strength to summon. 

Beside him, Luthor continued, “When I’m finished, we will have unlocked all the secrets the Kryptonians harbored within their bodies. I’ve already succeeded in unlocking one: their healing ability. I’ve created a serum that successfully expedites our own healing time to mere minutes rather than days or weeks. 

“There are limits to its ability,” she explained, pausing a moment to revel in the memory of her first test subject’s deserved struggle at the serum’s limit. “It won’t make you invincible, but it will allow you to heal without leaving whatever battles await us—and make you an unstoppable leader for our soldiers.” 

Rising from the bench, she finished, “I would like to grant you this gift, Jeremiah. Will you let me?” 

Catching the movement peripherally of her hand extending toward him, Jeremiah reached out while never breaking gazes with Eve. Rising in sync with Jeremiah, Eve’s smile broke broadly across her features as she took his hand from Lillian. “Come with me, Doctor. We’ll take care of you.” 

Lillian watched as the duo departed, her expression gentling as she did. Once more, Eve had proven herself irreplaceable—and made Lillian all the more certain of her loyalty. It also made her look forward even more to sharing with Eve her final update on the Daxamite—and the special gift he’d carried with him back inside the DEO. 

Vindictive celebration lit her throughout as she considered the ramifications of what she had done with the Vi’itraavi. The human casualties would be unfortunate, of course, even if many of them would be DEO agents—but sacrifice was sometimes a necessary part of reaching the greater goal. 

Retrieving the tablet Jeremiah had left behind, Lillian fell into step behind the doctor and Eve, an undeniable lightness in her step she was more than happy to indulge that morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The universe is not my friend right now. Also, Eve is way more convincing than she was before. I had nearly finished this chapter, when she decided she wanted to actually demonstrate her powers to readers rather than have me just explain what had happened to her. I have to admit, though, the opening is now way more captivating than it previously was. But the universe didn't like the switch-up and decided to dock me as much free time as possible. The struggle was real ;-)
> 
> Getting a little more deep into the comic weeds with the Thanagarian nth metal. I love nth metal. It's one of the coolest alien techs out there. That shiz can do SO MUCH. There's one more thing it can do that I'm going to tap into...in time. But for this chapter, I just needed to bring up the speed, strength, and flight capabilities. Poor Dr. Danvers. He's gaining so much...but at what cost?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to regroup, crossover-style...

Pressing the activator on her interdimensional extrapolator, Kara tightened her grip around Cat’s waist as they watched the breach open before them. Turning, she smiled at the wide-eyed excitement she saw overtake Cat’s expression.

“So, there’s a whole different Earth on the other side of this opening?”

Kara’s responding laughter drifted away under the steady roar of the breach. “Not just one—this can open up a door to any Earth in the multiverse. But for us, it’s programmed to default to Barry’s location.”

She pressed a kiss against the smaller blonde’s temple. “Ready to see Earth 1?”

She felt Cat’s hold tighten around her waist as she snuggled more closely against the hero’s side. Kara shifted the bags on her back and watched the electric swirl of breach hues reflect in the darkness of Cat’s pupils as she nodded in reply.

Truthfully, she’d been terrified Cat would wholeheartedly reject the idea of leaving their Earth, even for a few days.

_“I didn’t get where I am by running and hiding from a fight.”_

But something in the smaller blonde’s demeanor shifted the moment she had caught the uncontrolled shake in Kara’s voice as she had explained her idea. Her only stipulation had been they would offer Carter the opportunity to join them if he wanted (an offer he surprisingly refused with a noticeable blush and muttered words about wanting them to have “alone time”—a sentiment that sparked similar blushing from his _ieiu_ and a fond eye roll from his mother). Otherwise, she saw no harm in seeking a respite on Barry’s Earth.

“Besides, I think it’s time I had words with Mr. Allen regarding his assumptions about when and how often he can purloin you from our home.”

Kara had felt such an unexpected lightness in that moment—not just from Cat’s semi-serious teasing but also from her silent acceptance of Kara’s need to remove herself, even briefly, from their Earth.

Alex had been equally understanding, her only caveat being one Kara had already hoped would be her sister’s response.

“I’m going with you. Indestructible alien or not, I’m not letting you disappear again to another Earth.”

She jabbed a finger toward the smaller blonde beside Kara, her lips twitching in betrayal of her true mood when she finished, “And there is no way in hell I’m letting Cat Grant go unsupervised on a whole new Earth. The multiverse might not survive if I did.”

Beneath the undignified noise Cat offered in response, her expression altered just enough to convey her gratitude to Alex for once more falling so easily in line with her sister’s needs.

“Do you think Maggie would come with us?”

Kara’s question sliced through the momentary relief, Alex barely able to stop the hurt and uncertainty from darkening her features.

“I, um, I think Maggie would probably want to sit this one out. Maybe next time.”

Kara had recognized the warning within her tight smile and knew to stand down. Whatever was going on between Alex and Maggie, Kara knew her sister wasn’t ready to discuss it.

However, if, while Alex and Maggie said what everyone in the room could tell was a strained goodbye, she casually mentioned to Eliza that she could adjust the extrapolator to return them a half hour later than they left? Well, it would be completely up to Eliza to figure out how to spend that half hour with Maggie.

The hero directed her gaze over Cat’s head, watching her sister reluctantly release her hold on Maggie and step away with a single wave of her hand. Maggie moved to Carter’s side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they both waved in reply. Kara could see the detective’s dimples deepen slightly with a half-smile that never made it to her eyes.

With a turn that looked almost painful to make, Alex began to walk toward Kara, only meeting her watchful gaze after several steps. Her expression instantly blanked, but Kara still caught the affected shine she wasn’t able to blink away fast enough.

Without a word, she moved to Kara’s other side, finally smiling at the feeling of Kara wrapping her arm around her waist. Securing both women in place, Kara lifted off the ground and exclaimed, “Hold on!”

The flight was surprisingly short thanks to Cisco’s extrapolator. After what felt like only seconds of hazy, disorienting motion, Cat realized they were already exiting on the other side of a tunnel of diaphanous light. As Kara touched down, the smaller blonde glanced around what seemed to be the interior of a large hangar or industrial-sized warehouse of some kind. Hearing movement and voices coming from somewhere to her left, she attempted to turn only to stumble and begin to slip from Kara’s hold.

With super speed, Kara dropped their backpacks and gently scooped Cat into her arms. “Hey, it’s okay,” she murmured as she felt Cat shiver in her hold. “It’s a little unsettling the first time you go through.” She nuzzled against the smaller blonde’s ear. “I’ve got you, Cat. You’re safe.”

She felt the body in her arms relax slightly—felt the smaller blonde nod her understanding as she loosened her grip around Kara’s neck. Beside her, she felt Alex slowly release her own hold on her sister’s upper arm as she felt steadier on her own feet. “That was—really awesome,” the brunette finally laughed, her eyes alight with the curiosity Kara had hoped she’d see.

“Kara?”

The hero followed the uncertain call of her name, her smile growing even brighter at the sight of Iris and Cisco staring in disbelief at her. She was surprised to see members of Team Legend moving in behind them. Her enthusiasm began to dull, however, when she realized their disbelief darkened into worry as they registered the people with her.

“Hey,” she tried, hoping her voice carried a calm she was slowly losing, “is-is everything okay? Should we come back at another time?”

Stepping backward, Cisco held up one hand while activating his earpiece. “Barry? You need to get over to the S.T.A.R. Labs hangar right now.” He locked his gaze on Alex, his expression hardening as he stared at her. “Supergirl just showed up—and she’s brought someone with her you need to see.”

As the words left Cisco’s mouth, Kara watched Sara, Mick, and Ray take defensive stances, Mick aiming his pyro-gun at her sister. Before anything escalated further, she quickly but carefully set Cat down and tugged Alex in behind her. As she took point between Alex and Cat and the unnervingly defensive Earth 1 heroes, she felt her sister’s fingers dig into her shoulder.

“Kara,” she hissed into the hero’s ear, “who the hell do they think I am?”

Kara’s jaw moved several times before clicking shut sharply. Whoever they thought Alex was, the hero was certain of one thing. “This was not how I envisioned this trip going at all.”

Beside her, she heard Cat sniff at the comment. “Remind me to never let you plan any of our vacations, darling.”

Kara frowned at the smaller blonde’s statement but before she could process any kind of response, she caught the familiar sizzle and streak of Barry’s approach. Sliding to a halt in a blur of crimson and gold, the Flash settled his gaze on the group of visitors, his expression at first overjoyed at the sight of his favorite (never mind _only_ ) alien friend.

“Kara!”

Cat rolled her eyes at his Boy Scout-bright smile. “I’m still not entirely convinced he isn’t a Mormon.”

At the look Kara shot her, she clicked her tongue, not the least bit chagrined. Barry shifted his attention, eyes widening with realization. “Ms. Grant?”

Eyebrow hitching in approval, she nodded. “Mr. Allen. Dare I hope I was able to convince you of the questionable implications of your _nom de guerre_?”

“Uh, n-no. Sorry,” he added, uncertain as to why he felt so compelled to keep the CEO from being disappointed in him. “Still going with the Flash.”

He heard the dismissive hum, but brightened at how Kara snorted in amusement, her gaze unexpectedly dim but warm.

When he shifted his attention to the third arrival, however, he staggered back slightly, expression shifting into a tight grimace.

Alex quickly caught the look. “All right, this stops _now_.” Moving forward, she immediately found herself staring down the barrel of Mick’s pyro-gun.

Eyes glowering with barely contained fury, she growled, “You either move that away from me, or you end up figuring out how to pull its pieces out of your—”

“Alex!”

The agent tilted her head just enough to acknowledge Kara’s one-word plea.

Barry stepped forward at the sound of Kara identifying the woman with her, his hands raised in a calming effort. “Okay, okay, let’s just take it down a notch. This is someone Kara trusts, right?”

Kara nodded a bit more emphatically than necessary. “Yes! This is my sister, Alex! Remember, you used her lab at the DEO!”

The speedster’s expression instantly shifted, relief beginning to show through. “You’re Kara’s sister.” He said it in an almost inaudible tone, as though using it to continue to calm himself. “And your name is Alex _Danvers_?”

“Yeah.” Shoulders collectively shifted downward by a few notches around the room. “My parents took Kara in when she arrived.”

“That’s—that’s really good news.” Barry’s laughter mingled with a nervous flutter. “We’re glad to hear—well, I mean, we were worried—”

“We thought you were Alexandra Luthor.”

The only movement in the room as Cisco’s words faded into the air was Cat carefully stepping in front of Kara, her arms splaying outward slightly from her sides as she did.

Barry frowned at the sight—frowned even more when he caught the look of terror in his invulnerable friend’s wide-eyed gaze.

He understood a second later.

Ignoring the weapons and glares aimed her way, Alex turned and, reaching around Cat, punched her sister’s bicep hard enough that, if Kara hadn’t flinched backward in response, she knew Alex would have broken every bone in her hand.

Too angry to care, Alex roared, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kara shrank back, hands perched along Cat’s hips, pulling the smaller blonde with her as she did. “Alex, I didn’t know! I mean, how-how would I have known?”

“That I was _Lex fucking_ _Luthor_ on Earth 1?!”

Even several of the Earth 1 heroes flinched at the sound of Alex’s disgust. All eyes turned toward Kara, who shrank at the unwanted attention.

“So,” Barry finally began, elongating the word in a nervous attempt at breaking the tension, “you have a-an Alexand—er, a Lex Luthor, too?”

“Yeah,” Alex snapped while still glaring at Kara. “He’s a sociopath currently serving _several_ life sentences for, among other crimes, trying to murder my sister’s cousin!”

She jabbed Kara’s shoulder, wincing at the way her finger bent against the hard wall of muscle. “Take me back.”

“What? No! Alex, please—”

“After all the shit we’ve just been through, there is no way in hell I’m staying on an Earth where _any_ version of me would become a _Luthor_!”

“But Lena—”

“Goddammit, _enough_ _!_ Take me back, Kara.”

“Please, Alex. I-I need you here. I ne-need to know you-you’re safe. I-I can’t—I can’t be-be h-here w-wi-wi-without you.”

Hearing the familiar stuttering strain of panic rising in her sister’s voice, Alex’s fury instantly drained and she wrapped Kara in a tight embrace. She ignored the startled expressions on the faces of the Earth 1 heroes, instead focusing on rubbing a soothing pattern against Kara’s back.

“Okay, okay. It’s all right, _i_ _e_ _te_ _._ I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I promise, I’ll stay with you as long as you need to be here.”

As Kara sank into her sister’s arms with a barely contained whimper, Alex and Cat shared knowing and worried glances. After several moments, Kara finally released what she knew had been a grip far too tight for humans. Alex paused to catch her breath, swiping away Kara’s tears with a gentle smile.

“Kara?”

Barry reached up to slip off his suit cowl, running his hands through his hair to loosen it from its flattened tangle. Alex noted the disheveled look was surprisingly flattering for him. She also noted the honest concern for Kara in the way he and all the others within the hangar watched her.

The feel of her sister folding into her side curtailed her observations, instead drawing her attention fully back to Kara.

“I’m sorry.”

Even though she whispered the words almost to herself, Alex knew they were meant for everyone around them. She also knew from the movement beside her that Cat was not going to let Kara’s words go without comment.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

Cat tucked her hand beneath Kara’s chin, directing a tear-filled gaze toward her. Her own gaze was gentle but commanding as she asked, “Do you understand, Kara? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Bypassing words, Kara instead shifted from Alex’s arms to Cat’s, her whole body shivering as she felt the strong, protective embrace wrap around her. The sensation of Cat’s hold increasing in strength unlocked the fragile grip she’d been keeping on her emotions and she choked out a pitiful hiccup of sobs.

Regardless of Cat’s admonition, the hero’s now steady mantra of apologies filled the space with sorrow inescapable. Cat continued to hold Kara in a way that felt like actually holding her together. She noted how the Earth 1 heroes began to close rank around them. The meaning of their actions was clear: One of their own needed their protection and they would give it without question.

“Darling, why don’t we sit while you calm down?”

She groaned at what felt like her bones bending beneath Kara’s once more too-tight hold, the hero clearly not willing to let go of Cat just yet. Fingers tangled and tugged in Kara’s hair to draw her attention as she caught Barry’s questioning stare and nodded.

Displaced air ruffled her hair as two chairs appeared beside her. She hummed softly, an impressed twitch of her lips quickly controlled, before once more whispering, “Sit with me, _zhor_ _te_.”

This time, it was Kara who moved at super speed, landing in one chair while settling Cat in her lap. Strong arms looped around the smaller blonde’s waist as Kara rested her head over the heartbeat she cherished most in any universe.

When Cat caught Barry moving once more, this time at a speed she could actually track, she turned toward him while softly combing her fingers through Kara’s hair. Curiosity and, strangely enough, what looked like contrition lit his gaze as he held out several wrappers.

“I, uh, I always find I need a quick calorie surge whenever I take people breach hopping.”

Cat took the energy bars, offering a grateful nod to the still oddly remorseful speedster.

“Thank you.”

She unwrapped one of the bars and broke off a piece, watching as Kara sat up and looked her in the eyes. The hero’s cheeks pinked beneath tear tracks at the knowing hitch of Cat’s eyebrow as she held the piece in front of her. The blush deepened instantly at the snort she heard from her sister when she accepted the hand-fed treat.

“Yeah, like we all needed to see _that_ loaded imagery.”

Never breaking eye contact or her soft smile for her hero, Cat chided, “Don’t pick on your sister while she’s eating—unless you think there’s someone here strong enough to give a Kryptonian the Heimlich maneuver.”

The smaller blonde’s joke eased everyone’s tension levels noticeably, the surrounding Earth 1 heroes finally releasing the collective breath they’d been holding the past few tense moments.

Wanting to give Kara more time to calm down, Cat looked once more toward the speedster.

“Mr. Allen, perhaps you would be so kind as to introduce Alex and me to your superhero coffee klatch?”

Much to her secret amusement, Barry jumped to attention—and promptly stumbled over his own feet as he rushed to respond to her request.

“Uh, yeah—yes, of course!”

Looking back over his shoulder, he waved toward the group gathered around what looked like some kind of cybernetic exo-suit.

“This is Sara Lance, Mick Rory, and Ray Palmer. They’re—”

“Team Legend. Time travelers, I believe?”

Cat dropped the knowledge so casually that Sara nearly missed the scrutinizing stare the smaller blonde directed toward Mick and her. She filed away the look, more surprised to see Mick staring at Kara with what she was certain was genuine concern.

“That—yeah, that’s them.” He paused in confusion before Cat’s subtle side-eye prompted him to continue. “And this is my friend Cisco Ramon.”

Alex grunted in acknowledgement at the familiar name. When Cisco turned with a curious quirk of his eyebrow, she explained, “Kara clearly likes your energy bars,” she joked as she watched Kara finish her second bar. “She brought one back with her from her last trip here and had me replicate a version for her on our Earth.”

The hero shyly mumbled around her mouthful of bar, “It was the first time something so small had actually stopped my stomach from growling.”

The DEO agent pressed her lips together at the way Cisco’s face brightened and the way Barry blushed to the tips of his ears with understanding and sympathy.

“Yeah, we caught the Super stomach growl a couple times,” he laughed, his good mood growing at the sight of Kara’s own responding blush. “But don’t worry. I know where Barry keeps a secret stash if we run out.”

Alex relaxed even more, accepting his conspiratorial comment as a truce for earlier. The speedster merely huffed, knowing he would gladly give up all _five_ of his stashes for Kara.

Finally, he reached out his hand toward the woman beside him, his smile growing double its previous size. “And this is my fiancée, Iris West.”

At Barry’s introduction of Iris, Kara snapped back to full focus, her lips lifting into a hesitant, hopeful grin as she shifted Cat to the chair she’d quickly vacated. “Fiancée?”

Barry had barely begun to nod when he found himself swept up—and _up_ —into strong arms holding him tightly against the body spinning them both in the air.

Even in his surprised state, he couldn’t find it in himself to do anything but laugh and hold on more tightly. Because his friend—his wonderful alien friend who was even more impossible than he would ever be—had broken free of whatever horrors had shaken her so thoroughly and was hugging him and laughing in a way he felt stinging the backs of his eyes with tears.

When they once more descended, Kara released her hold on Barry and switched to Iris with head-spinning speed, twirling her into the air as well with as much joy though far more caution than she’d done with the speedster. “I’m so happy for you both,” she sighed, her eyes finally bright with lighter emotions rather than the tears of a few moments prior.

Through her own laughter, Iris wrapped Kara in her arms and held her close, relieved to be any part of drawing the Kryptonian back toward happiness.

“Hey, Kar, unless you start carrying Dramamine with you everywhere, you should probably stop spinning the humans so vigorously.”

Iris couldn’t help her amusement at how Alex’s words drew a sharp inhalation and a sheepish nose crinkle from the hero holding her close. When they both were firmly on the ground once more, Iris squeezed her arm affectionately. “I’m fine, Kara. If I can take Barry zipping me all around Central City and beyond, I can take an unexpected spin with the Girl of Steel.”

Strong shoulders relaxed even as Kara laughed at the teasing. Eyes suddenly widening with whatever thought had popped into her head, the hero spun around, the movement actually shuddering through the concrete floor beneath Iris’s feet.

Cat drew up at realizing she was now the sole focus of Kara’s blissfully brighter expression. Lips slipping upward with an almost smug knowing, she held out her hand. Kara took it with a shy smile that never failed to fill her with the freefalling giddiness she felt flipping her insides at that moment.

She laughed, a soft, genuine sound that blurred Cat’s vision, as she pulled her into the strong circle of her arms. With her gaze locked on mapping yet again the golden constellations of Cat’s irises, she announced to the Earth 1 heroes, “This is my partner, Cat Grant.”

Sara snickered at Kara’s introduction, her lips forming an indulgent smirk. “I think we got that first part from the lap sitting and the hand-feeding.”

Shifting her focus over Kara’s shoulder, Cat observed the open, ingenuous way Sara watched them both, her eyes alight with an honest and unexpected happiness.

“Yeah, try having to watch them like this every day.”

A sharp shot of laughter sprang from Sara’s mouth at Alex’s comment, mingling with the similar amusement from the others. For her part, Kara merely tugged Cat more deeply into her arms, her smile a fragile curve.

It was a short-lived moment, however, before Cat could feel Kara’s bleaker emotions once more stiffening her body. Deciding to curtail the shift as best she could, she squeezed Kara’s forearms until her muscles balked at the exertion. The way Kara shook off the dark damask of her mood in lieu of curiosity made the effort worth it.

Looking into blue eyes focused intently on her, she whispered, “Stay here, my love. Stay right in this moment—with us. Can you do that, Kara?”

Hearing Cat’s plea, Iris stepped forward, pleased at how Kara turned inquisitively to watch her. “Whatever happened on your Earth, Kara, you and Cat and Alex are safe here, okay?”

She glanced toward Sara, eyebrows raising with a question the captain quickly answered. “Damn right,” she agreed. “No matter where or _when_ you are here, we’ve got your back.”

Too exhausted to fight back her emotions, Kara simply let her tears fall. The smile to quiver into shape on her lips, however, was small but honest. Sniffling and quickly brushing her sleeve over her eyes, she sighed, “Thank you.”

Intent on keeping Kara out of the darkness in her haunted stare a little while longer, Sara continued, “Why don’t we take a break and head over to the Waverider?”

She cast a glance toward Ray and Cisco while joking, “I’m kind of done for now, watching the Geek Brigade play with Ray’s suit.”

“We are not _playing,_ ” Cisco countered. “We’re making the new suit awesome.”

The two techies high-fived each other, each pleased to see Kara’s smile grow.

Sara huffed while gesturing toward the hangar’s open doors. “Whatever. Point is, it’s break time. The rest of the Legends aren’t back from—whatever the hell they’ve decided to do today, so I’m sure Gideon would enjoy the company. Plus, we’ve got a food fabricator in the galley that should be able to keep up with your and Barry’s appetites.”

Cat leaned up to kiss the rosy warmth casting color back into Kara’s complexion. She wrapped a guiding arm around her hero’s waist and began walking toward the doors. “I assume your ship is this way, Captain?”

Before Sara could respond, Kara pointed ahead, toward the seemingly empty asphalt outside the hangar. “It’s right outside.” She moved a finger in front of her as if tracing a pattern against the blank space. “I can see the displacement field from its cloak.”

Mick grunted at the statement, causing Kara to blush more deeply at the memory of her first conversation with him about her visual powers. However, she steadied her stare as she turned toward the sound and narrowed her eyes once more while pretending to scan him.

Unsurprisingly, he expelled a gravelly growl, spreading his arms wide. “Pop those peepers at me all you want, Skirt. I’ve got nothin’ to hide—and I’m more than happy to share whatever you see that you like.”

Cat compressed her lips together at the sound of Kara’s startled gasp and the quick smack Sara delivered to the back of his head as she passed by him. “Can you pretend just for now you have manners?”

Deciding to goad Kara on a bit more as distraction, the smaller blonde slipped more snugly against her and whispered, “Perhaps I was a bit too eager in my restraining order threats for Captain Lance and Mr. Rory. They’re actually quite— _alluring_.”

Even peripherally, Cat could make out the distinctly possessive glower pointed her direction. “Should I have CatCo Legal draw up something to protect them from _you_ , darling?”

In perfect Cat Grant fashion, Kara clicked her tongue, but the smaller blonde smirked at the feel of her arm coming around her shoulders and holding her close. Behind them, she could hear Alex laughing.

“Hey, Gideon,” Sara called out, “open up, we’ve got company.”

Through her earpiece, she heard the melodic affirmative of the Waverider’s A.I. right before the starboard hatch released to allow them entrance.

Kara felt Cat perk at the unexpected sight of a doorway appearing in the midst of nothing. “I can feel your reporter senses tingling,” she teased, her brow crinkling slightly at the way Iris focused on Cat with what looked like growing recognition.

“You didn’t really think you could bring her to a whole new world and not have her go full Cat Grant on you, did you?”

Even as Alex joked at Cat’s curiosity, her own expression reflected her equal investment in wanting to know more about where they were heading. Sara turned back as she led them through the entrance.

“Welcome to the Waverider, the finest of timeships and our home away from home. Gideon, you remember Kara.”

The ship’s A.I. responded in her precise, soothing voice, “Welcome back to Earth 1, Kara Zor-El.”

The hero smiled at the greeting, oddly pleased to be remembered by the Legends’ ship. “Thank you, Gideon.”

“Kara’s brought special guests with her this time, so make us look good, Gideon.”

“Of course, Captain.”

As the group moved along the corridor, the two new visitors took in the ship’s interior with equally voracious gazes. Cat was first to speak. “So, you can travel to any point in Earth’s timeline with this ship?”

“Yes. My time drive can identify and target any point throughout all of Earth’s history.”

“Even the end of it all?”

The A.I. responded in a clipped, precise tone. “ _All_ of its history.”

A frown line marred Cat’s forehead. “You consider the future to be history?”

“To a sentient timeship who can see all of Earth’s existence, chronology is admittedly meaningless.”

Cat’s lips tipped downward with reluctant acceptance. In the smaller blonde’s pensive silence, Alex asked Gideon, “Are you able to travel to other places as well? Or is Earth your time drive’s anchor destination?”

“While all my resources are Earth-specific, the Waverider is capable of hyperspace travel to anywhere in the galaxy.”

A strange expression fluttered across Kara’s features. Sara caught the moment with pained understanding.

At the end of the corridor, the group passed into the ship’s galley. Mick diverted to the refrigerator, grabbing a beer for himself. Turning around, he snarled at Sara’s sudden proximity and the expectant glint in her gaze.

“What? You want me to share?”

Taking the question as invitation, Alex stepped forward and slipped the beer from his hand with a smile.

“Thanks for the offer.”

She glanced back to offer the bottle to Cat, who merely gave a _sangfroid_ hitch of her brow. Shrugging, Alex turned to Kara, holding out her bottle with a waggle of her eyebrows.

The hero flicked her thumb nail under the cap, sending it into the air. Alex easily caught the lid as it flipped once, showing off a choreographed move the others were certain the two sisters had performed numerous times.

Behind Alex, Mick snapped the lid off his own beer while grunting his approval. “Just so you know: The beers are real. The rest of the crap that comes outta here tastes fake.”

Gideon’s gilded accent broke into the conversation once more. “Perhaps I would be more inclined to offer you better food if you weren’t so ill-mannered toward me.”

The three Earth 38 visitors glanced among themselves, eyes wide at the sauciness from the ship’s A.I.

Sara cut in at the sound of the harsh growl rumbling deep in Mick’s chest. “All right, Gideon, why don’t you impress our guests with your finest fabrications. Just remember you’re going to have to make a little extra. We’ve got a Kryptonian and a speedster to feed.”

Before Sara could comment on the dueling shy responses from her two calorically aggressive friends, Gideon interjected. “Captain, while I prepare food for everyone, might I have a word with you on the bridge?”

Frowning in puzzlement, Sara shrugged at the others while turning toward the galley entrance. “Of course, Gideon. I’ll be right there.”

Once outside, Sara sped up her pace, jogging toward the bridge until she stood in front of the central console from which Gideon’s holographic image was already coalescing. “All right, what’s up? I need to hurry back before Mick decides to start taking bets on whether Supergirl or the Flash can eat more food.”

She rolled her eyes at her own comment, knowing damn well that was precisely what Mick was already doing in the galley.

“Actually, Captain, this is about Kara Zor-El.”

Sara drew back slightly, the concern she’d felt twisting her gut since Kara’s breakdown tightening painfully.

“What about Kara?”

“I just ran a comparison between my original scans of Kara the first time she came to Earth 1 and today. There is a significant and troubling difference between then and now.”

“No one likes it when you try to build drama, Gideon.”

“Of course, Captain. Today’s scan shows she is missing significant portions of two of her internal organs.”

The painful tightness flipped into a nauseous burn Sara felt clenching through her gut. “How much?”

“While there is some new growth on one of the damaged organs, I can extrapolate that both organs lost twenty percent of their original size. The precision of the damage indicates intentional removal. One organ has regrown approximately five percent, but the second organ has shown no regrowth.”

“Well, what does that mean to her abilities?”

“I am uncertain, Captain. As Kara is the only Kryptonian I have ever encountered, I do not have detailed medical records on her species. However, I can surmise such a loss might cause some kind of reduction to her powers.”

Sara’s vision blurred behind a patina of tears. “What the fuck happened to her?”

“Whatever has occurred,” Gideon replied, “I believe it might be possible for me to overstimulate her natural healing ability in a way that could force full regrowth.”

“Would that hurt her?”

“Again, I am uncertain. My medical database is limited to human physiology. However, if Kara would allow me to examine her more thoroughly, I believe I might be able to help her.”

The initial frustration she felt at the statement morphed into a hopeful curiosity at the memory of something Kara had said to Barry. “Kara said her sister worked in some kind of lab. I wonder if she could help us.”

“Her sister?”

“Her human sister—part of the family that adopted Kara when she arrived on her Earth. She and Kara’s partner are with her right now.”

“Is she the blonde or the brunette?”

Something in Gideon’s tone triggered a chill at the base of Sara’s spine. “The brunette is her sister, Alex Danvers. The blonde is her partner, Cat Grant.”

“According to my scans, Cat Grant is missing her spleen and her body shows signs of recent healing to most of her internal organs.”

“Christ, what the hell is happening on Kara’s Earth?”

Ignoring the strained pitch of Sara’s rhetorical question, Gideon pressed, “Alex Danvers shows recent healing as well. What’s most curious is, both humans have a significant amount of Kryptonian DNA replicating itself through their immune systems.”

Pacing away from the central console, Sara sank down onto the stairs leading up to the captain’s office. She leaned forward, elbows against the tops of her knees as she stared at the bridge deck. As she considered Gideon’s revelations, she felt her body tense reflexively, her fingers curling into tight fists.

“Captain?”

Shaking her head, Sara sighed, “I-I don’t know what to say, Gideon. What am I supposed to do?”

The A.I. fell silent for several frustrating beats before answering. “I’ve just listened in on our guests in the galley. As you predicted, Mr. Rory has instigated competitive betting against Kara and Barry. For the moment, I would recommend you rejoin the group and either enjoy the festivities or rein them back under control. I can tell you, however, all three of our Earth 38 visitors are enjoying themselves. I would recommend letting them continue to do so for now. Whatever has occurred on their Earth, I believe they have earned this break.”

At the recommendation, Sara pushed herself up from the steps with a nod and a quick swipe of her fingers over her eyes to clear away any traces of emotion. “Good call—and thank you, Gideon. I appreciate your discretion with this information.”

“Of course, Captain,” and the A.I. hologram shimmered out of sight.

With one more heavy exhalation that puffed out her cheeks, Sara swung around and headed back toward the galley. Her steps on the return trip tread heavily against the corrugated deck, each one weighted with the new knowledge Gideon had given her. Something brutal and obscene had happened to Kara—something that had damaged not just her body but her irrepressible joy that had charmed even the surliest of the Waverider crew. Just the thought of any harm befalling Kara churned something within the darkness inside her—a darkness conjured from the depths of magic most forbidden and spells long banished.

Arriving at the galley entrance, Sara breathed deeply several times to calm herself before stepping through the doorway and into the incredibly welcome sound of laughter and cheering. As she rounded into the main sitting area, she felt a rush of joy at the sight of Kara and Barry hunkered over separate platters, each a blur of motion as they tore through whatever was stacked in front of them.

Beside the Kryptonian, Alex gripped the table edge, calling out, “Come on, Kara! You got this!”

To her right, Cat watched, arms crossed and indulgence scripted in the upward curl of her lips.

Sara noted with a secret sense of victory when Kara leaned back first before a completely empty platter. The moment Alex realized Kara had finished, she jumped upright, spinning and high-fiving a slightly surprised but quick-to-adapt Cat.

Barry leaned back, wiping a napkin across his mouth as he finished chewing the rest of his last burger at normal speed. He laughed at the way Kara rolled her eyes at her sister and partner, her own expression a portrait of controlled contentment.

With a shrug, he finally conceded, “To be fair, I’ve only ever claimed to be the fastest _man_ alive.”

Beside Kara, Cat huffed indignantly as she plucked a piece of burger bun from Kara’s hair. “I never thought I’d witness the day a man said _that_ proudly.”

Mirrored mortified looks hit Barry and Kara at the same time while Alex and Cat bumped fists to the sound of Iris’s knowing laughter.

“I’ve asked him several times to reconsider that claim.” She cupped his cheek tenderly but continued to tease, “I think I’m going to insist once we’re married, just on principle alone.”

“I don’t know,” Ray chimed in, “it does speak to Barry’s efficiency and proficiency.”

He flashed a blindingly earnest grin.

“Mormons,” Cat muttered beneath her breath before gasping at the sensation of Kara sweeping her off her feet and once more into her lap.

Sara came the rest of the way into the galley, swinging one of the chairs around so she could straddle it with an easy sweep of her leg. She dug out a flask from her pocket while ordering, “All right, Gideon, time to treat us all to your fantastic fabrication stylings.”

She pulled a glass from the tray on the table, pouring a healthy shot of the whiskey she’d procured during their visit to Liberty, Colorado. She handed the glass to Cat with a proud lift of her chin. “I’m definitely not claiming this is top shelf, but it _is_ from 1874. It also makes you lose feeling in your toes if you drink too much.”

Kara didn’t even need to look at Cat to know the wry expression now adorning the smaller blonde’s face. When she tipped back the glass, the whiskey sliding down her throat in one fiery sluice, Kara chuckled at the surprise widening Sara’s eyes.

The glass knocked against the table top with a thick _thunk_ and a soft scrape as Cat pushed it toward Sara with an expectant hitch of her eyebrow. The captain laughed deeply as she poured Cat a larger shot and then poured a glass for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been MIA for a hot minute, right? I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for so much time to pass in between postings. But a perfect storm once more hit me in the past month, both reducing my free time and, honestly, my desire to write for this show. Full disclosure: I stopped watching after the first episode of this season. That horribly written cliched villain monologue at the end of the episode was all I needed to know to send me far in the opposite direction.
> 
> Still, I'm so disheartened by this show. It's so joyless and awful, and the actors are so much better than what the show runners and writers are giving them every week. So...even though I stopped watching, I think I still got a serious case of the bummers. Even though I was still writing, I just wasn't feeling any of it. So I kind of wandered away for a while. A bit too long, admittedly. I'm sorry for that. 
> 
> I love this story, though, way too much to give up completely. I will say this here, though: The Lena in my story is no longer affiliated with the show's Lena at all. They've chosen to maker her a full-blown sociopath, just like the rest of the Luthor family. I don't choose that. This Lena is my Lena. I hope that's okay. 
> 
> Tangentially, I'm stating at this point that I don't believe I will be revisiting anything to do with Adam Foster in this story. I know I left things in a bad place for Cat's relationship with him. But I really don't want to write for a character depicted by someone as bereft of any worth as the actor who portrayed him. Just the existence of the character sickens me now, knowing it was another way for the actor to inflict his dangerous presence into his ex-wife's life. I might wrap up the Adam story line in some way, but at the moment, I'm just not interested. 
> 
> That all being said, I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Originally, I had intended this to be a one-chapter one shot, where Kara, Cat, and Alex escaped for a brief respite and had some fun scenes with members of Team Flash and Team Legend. Then, my brain took over and came up with ways to make this crossover more important...and way longer, LOL. So, this is the first part of what I think is going to be a three-chapter break in the main action. But I promise, relevant things happen, including with my version of Earth 1's Alex. I actually wrote her way before Elseworlds dropped a version of her on us...so I'm sticking with my version here ;-) Oh, and if this ends in an odd way, it's because I broke this chapter in half. I'm nearly finished with the second half, but I'm also trying to keep my chapters shorter in this part of the series. I know some of the chapters in DoD were hella crazy long. I'm trying to be better ;-) So you might actually get another chapter out of me before the end of the year! Maybe even all three of the crossover chapters! You never know...


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams Legend and Flash do all they can to take care of their Earth 38 guests.

The Waverider’s galley soon enough was filled with food, drink, and laughter in equal and enjoyable measure as Teams Legend and Flash set about to properly welcome their Earth 38 guests. Cat retained what she knew was the best seat in the house, settling into Kara’s lap and her favorite role of quiet observer—a role she rarely could enjoy on their own Earth. Kara gave her soft, knowing smiles amidst the currents of conversation swirling around them and enjoyed the feel of Cat’s fingers lazily drawing patterns against the arm she kept loosely looped around the smaller blonde’s waist.

As the various discussions dipped into one of several natural lulls throughout the impromptu gathering, Alex set down her beer and leaned back in her chair. She scanned the Earth 1 heroes around the room. Inhaling deeply, she asked, “All right, so give me the dirty details: How evil am I here?”

“Alex,” Kara warned, “I don’t think we’re supposed to know about our multiverse counterparts.” 

With an undignified snort, Cat shifted to attention and huffed, “Fuck that. I’m with Alex on this: Just how evil are we talking?”

Catching Kara’s warning glare, she pressed, “What? We should know what we might be up against, should your sister ever decide to go all revenge-y on our Earth.”

“Vote of confidence fail,” Alex muttered, though she enjoyed how Cat could so easily guide Kara into less desolate emotions with one comment.

With a shrug, Sara glanced to Barry. “We wouldn’t really be screwing up the timeline by telling someone from another Earth what they’re like here, would we?” 

The speedster shrugged, the leather of his suit creaking softly with the movement. “Well, we’ve got Harrys from multiple Earths coming and going all the time and we haven’t broken anything yet there.” He frowned. “At least not that we know of.”  

Sara sat up straighter at the realization to hit her. “Even if we _do_ screw up the timeline with this, we can just go back and fix it.”

Alex flashed a victorious smile even as Kara hugged Cat closer with a worried pout.

“All right, Gideon. Tell us about Alexandra Luthor.” 

“Of course, Captain. Alexandra Luthor was born Alexandra Elizabeth Danvers, daughter of Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers.” 

Alex and Kara shared a wary glance, Alex already unnerved by the unexpected parallel. 

“Her parents were bioengineers who ran a research lab in San Francisco, California, with Lillian Luthor, an associate from their teaching days at UCSF. Together, they worked on deciphering the genetic disorders behind some of the most incurable diseases. When Alexandra was eight, SFPD contacted her parents with a request for help. They had brought in a man on charges that were ultimately dropped, but the police didn’t want to just release him to the streets again. He had somehow developed the ability to inflict damage on others similar to osteogenesis imperfecta—brittle bone disease. He could cause bone breaks wherever he touched, and the police needed somewhere to send him to keep the general public safe.”

Confusion shadowed Iris’s gaze as she stared at Barry. “I thought there were no records of metahumans on our Earth before the particle accelerator accident.”

Gideon paused as she sorted through her databases. “Neither police nor medical records identified him as a metahuman. Doctors were unable to determine the cause of his condition and ultimately diagnosed him as suffering effects from an accident he’d had while employed at an industrial chemical supplier east of the city limits. Only Alexandra and Lillian Luthor have identified him as one of the first recorded metahumans.”

“Were my parents—er, _Alexandra’s_ parents able to help him?”

“I’m afraid not. He became hostile when he believed they weren’t working fast enough to cure him while refusing to let him go back to his home. According to the incident report, he attacked one of the lab techs who had come to retrieve him for additional blood work. He held the lab hostage, including Alexandra, who happened to be there with her parents that particular day. He used his powers to torture her in the hopes it would push her parents to find his cure faster. Instead, they tried to overpower him and he killed them both in the fight. When SWAT teams finally entered the lab, they killed him but they were too late. Alexandra Danvers lost both her parents that day. She also lost her right leg three days later from the irreparable damage he had inflicted on her.”

Alex leaned back in her seat, rubbing her hand over her face with a weary sigh. She cast an apologetic glance toward her sister. “Not exactly the fun evil doppelgänger story I was hoping to hear.”

“Unfortunately, no,” Gideon agreed. 

Cat held onto Kara’s arm at the sensation of trembling through her muscles. “When did Lillian Luthor step into the picture as Alexandra’s caretaker?”

“Lillian Luthor petitioned to adopt Alexandra Danvers while she was still in the hospital healing. In her statement, she explained how Eliza and Jeremiah were the closest she had left to family since the death of her husband, Lionel. She had no children of her own, but considered Alexandra like a daughter. Since neither sets of Alexandra’s grandparents were alive and there were no aunts or uncles, the hospital released her into Lillian’s care while the courts expedited the petition. 

“When the adoption was finalized a year later, they left San Francisco for San Jose, where Lillian joined the Institute for Medical Research. Alexandra earned a degree in bioengineering from UCSF, just like her parents and Lillian, and joined IMR when she graduated.

“A year after the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion triggered the metahuman boom in Central City, however, the Luthors relocated here. They started a new lab called MetaSolutions and announced their plan to ‘heal’ all metahumans. According to an article written in the _Central City Citizen_ , they believe that beneath the meta-gene variants, there is a baseline all metahumans share from the explosion. If they can discover that baseline and figure out how to neutralize it, they believe they will discover a universal way to eliminate the meta-gene enhancements.”

In the silence of the room, Alex tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling. Across from her, Barry stared glumly at her still unnervingly familiar profile. “I never knew any of that—about her losing so much, so young.”

Understanding the complexity underlying his simple statement, Iris took his hand in hers. “She’s survived a lot, but that’s not an excuse to force all metas to go through a procedure they didn’t ask for because she wants to judge all metas on the actions of one.”

Alex’s head snapped downward. “What do you mean?”

“There are several on Central City’s council who are trying to convince the mayor to make this meta fix mandatory whenever MetaSolutions releases it. Thankfully, they don’t have much support at all—but _any_ support is too much.”

Cat’s lips dipped pensively. “There isn’t a meta registry, is there?”

“No, there isn’t—but the Luthors have been working with Schottech to design a device that will be able to locate humans with the meta-gene through broadband sensor sweeps calibrated to their research findings.”

She tightened her hold on Barry’s hand. “You’re fast, but you won’t be able to outrun that if it goes into use. And then what?” 

Glancing around the table, seeing the tight expression on Cisco’s face, she asked, “And what about all the other metas who are using their powers for good, like you? Are you all supposed to relocate while the Luthors purge the city? What if they decide to push this state-wide? Or to the national level? If they find the right advocate in Congress, they could push this to become a federally mandated metahuman conversion therapy!”

The sound of Cat’s sharp gasp drew an end to Iris’s questions. As the rest of the group focused on her, the CEO reached down, wrapping her hands around Kara’s wrists and squeezing to draw her attention. At the realization of her hold growing too strong in tune with her emotions, Kara obediently loosened her grip with a softly mumbled apology.

Placing the gentlest kiss against the corner of the hero’s lips, Cat whispered, “It’s all right, my love. I know how upsetting this sounds, but everyone in this room is safe right now. She’s not the same as our Earth’s Lillian Luthor.”

“But—” 

“No, Kara. You can’t take on worrying about what _might_ happen. You need to focus on now, and right now, everyone here is safe. _You_ are safe.”

When Kara finally surrendered to Cat’s words with a hesitant nod, she drew the hero tightly into her embrace, kissing her unruly golden mane of hair. With noticeable pique, she stated, “Given your sister’s success at learning about her Earth 1 self, it’s probably for the best no one knows who _I_ am here.” 

Alex shot her a look that might have made lesser women flinch. Cat merely returned a half-lidded glare that easily earned a mildly irritated chuff. 

Across from them, however, Iris leaned forward, crossing her arms against the tabletop. Kara noted the earlier recognition returning with far more certainty.

“I know who you are.” 

Even as Cat felt the tension to fluctuate once more through Kara’s muscles, she turned on her most charming smile. “Please, do tell.”

Iris stared down long enough for Cat to wonder if perhaps it might be better for her _not_ to know the answer. With a nod to herself, however, Iris looked up to meet her enquiring gaze. “Any good reporter knows: You’re Catherine Kyle, founder and CEO of Gotham Global News.” 

Lip curling instantly, Cat sneered, “I live in _Gotham_? I must have scurvy by this point from total lack of sunlight.”  

Clicking her tongue at the way Kara tried to cover the laughter bubbling from her mouth, Cat suddenly glared at Iris as the puzzle pieces began to form an unsettling image in her head. “Gotham. Catherine _Kyle_. Please tell me I’m not married to—” 

“Selina Kyle.” 

“Goddammit!”

Kara flinched at the unexpected outburst, her nose crinkling adorably. “Why-what’s wrong?”

With a glare Kara recognized with uncomfortable ease, Cat set her jaw and sneered, “I am the _ultimate_ cat pun on this Earth.” 

Crinkle deepening to dangerous proportions, Kara stammered, “Wait, what? Who-who is Selina Kyle?”  

Ignoring the question, Cat rubbed at her temple with a melodramatic sigh. “Oh, Bruce would have _such_ a field day with this—so would Lois for that matter.” 

As she mumbled mostly to herself, she looked down, halting at the sight of Kara staring at her with a unsettled expression. Hand instantly dropping from her head, she instead pressed it against the flat of the hero’s chest. “What?” 

Brushstrokes of pink colored Kara’s cheeks as she slowly blinked. Her expression morphed into a chagrined frown. “I-I think I’m jealous.” 

“Of Earth 1 me?” 

With a shake of her head, she sighed, “Of Earth 1 Selina Kyle, whoever—or whatever—the hell she is.”

The confession drew a salacious smile to Cat’s lips. She leaned forward to kiss the hero’s mouth. “I can assure you, you have nothing to be jealous of, darling.” 

Kara tilted her head to one side, her lips pressing together to hide the joy and relief she knew continued to warm her cheeks. Moving one hand to massage the back of the hero’s neck, Cat turned back to Iris. “Dare I ask to see a photo?” 

Pulling her mobile phone from her pocket, Iris did a quick search and slid the device across the table into Cat’s eager reach. One look at the screen, however, immediately hardened her expression into a repulsed sneer. “Do I have _no_ shame on this Earth?”

With startlingly fast reflexes, Alex grabbed the phone from Cat’s grip, instantly falling into uproarious laughter. “You’ve got ‘Speak to the Manager’ hair?”

“It’s called an asymmetrical bob,” she snapped as she yanked back the device. “And I can assure you, Earth 38 Cat Grant will _never_ be entertaining that particular hairstyle.”

Kara stilled Cat’s exaggerated gesturing of the device enough to see the photo as well. “You’ve got brown hair.” 

One brow arced with impressive precision. “Darling, you know I’m not a natural blonde.” 

Beside her, Alex squelched a shocked gagging noise, eyes slamming shut as she vehemently shook her head. “TMI,” she gritted out through clenched teeth.

The sound amped Cat’s melodramatic eye roll to muscle-pulling proportions. “Your sister scheduled my hair stylist appointments for two years,” she scolded with a smack to Alex’s shoulder. “Of course, she knows I get my hair colored.” 

Kara tipped her head to one side, continuing to examine the photo of that Earth’s Cat. The crinkle between her eyes deepened so dramatically, Cat pressed her free hand against her cheek and softly queried, “What is it, darling?”

Shoulders loped upward but a playful smirk tugged at her lips. “I just always thought I’d have to bribe Carter to finally get to see a picture of you with your natural hair color.”

Incredulity sparkled in Cat’s eyes as she leaned in, this time to kiss Kara’s nose. “Those are securely locked away in the same vault as photos of me in my hockey gear—so you’d do better to figure out how to bribe _me_ rather than Carter.”

“Do you two ever give it a rest?” 

Both surprised and surprisingly warmed by the sound of Sara’s already familiar teasing, Cat rejoined, “On our Earth, I’m responsible for making sure my company reports breaking news around the globe in constant rotation. It is literally my job to never give anything a rest, Captain.”

Clicking on what she had heard Kara say earlier, Iris queried, “And you were once a reporter?”

Alex instantly responded. “Cat Grant is one of our Earth’s greatest reporters.”

Kara felt the shiver through Cat’s body and looked up in time to see the bright shine rise in her gaze.

Doubling down on her statement, Alex stared unflinchingly at the smaller blonde. “You have spent your whole career fighting for the truth and protecting the right to tell it. You have gone to the ends of the Earth to report on the darkest atrocities, because you know injustice needs to be seen first before we can stop it. You are uncompromising in your expectations, your integrity, and your determination. You are every bit the hero my sister is.”

“More so,” Kara softly added, hurriedly continuing at the sight of Cat’s protest even beneath the glaze of emotion Alex’s words had brought forward. “You’re not invincible.”

“Neither are you,” Cat protested, her voice noticeably fractured by emotion. 

“No, I’m not.” She caught how Sara flinched at the confession. “But my powers usually give me an advantage when it comes to dangerous situations. You don’t have that same edge, and yet you will still walk right into the fire, if it means saving even one person from burning.”

Not giving a damn about anyone watching them—or any subsequent teasing she might earn—Cat cupped Kara’s face in her hands and whispered her now familiar promise to her hero: “Whatever it takes.” 

Iris settled back in her seat, adoration apparent through her entire expression as she watched the scene unfolding before her. She looped her arm through Barry’s at the feel of the speedster leaning closer, smiling sadly at his whispered repetition as he kissed her temple: “Whatever it takes.”

The sound of his phone broke the moment of silence that had wrapped around the occupants of the galley. With a jolt and a sigh, Barry slipped the device from his pocket, frowning at the name flashing on his screen. “Joe?” 

His frown shifted deeper with every second of listening. “Oh-okay. I can be there in ten. I just need to get my kit and a change of clothes.”

As he hung up, he caught the concerned expression on Kara’s face. “Hey,” he calmed, “it’s all okay.” He grimaced at Joe’s description of the crime scene—grimaced even more when he realized Kara had probably heard the description as well. “Maybe not okay—but nothing out of the ordinary for my regular job.”

Turning to Iris, he explained, “Joe’s at a double homicide over near Clarenden and Front. Sounds like it’s going to be a long one. Why don’t you take Kara, Cat, and Alex to Joe’s? I’m sure Wally won’t mind someone crashing in his room while he’s gone. I’ll let Joe know he’s going to have company.”

“Tell him I said hi when you see him.” 

Barry grinned at the sight of Kara’s shy smile. “I promise.” Springing to his feet, he nodded toward Cat and Alex. He hesitated as he studied Cat’s expectant expression. “I’m really happy you’re here with Kara.” He shifted his gaze to Alex. “Anyone who is important to her is important to all of us.”

With one more wave to the group, he spun and zipped from the galley in a blur of crimson and gold. 

Pressing her hands against the table, Iris pushed herself up from her seat. She glanced around the room as she stated, “I’m going to get our guests over to my dad’s place so they can settle in, but why don’t we all regroup there in a couple hours? We’ll just keep this party going for a little bit longer. Sound good?”  

The others agreed to the proposition, each volunteering to bring something with them to keep their favorite Kryptonian well fed and, if Cisco’s hints were to be believed, possibly even inebriated. 

On the short drive to Joe’s, Iris couldn’t help but steal glances in the rearview mirror of Kara snuggled into Cat’s side as the smaller blonde scanned every inch of the terrain they passed. Her fingers idly slid through Kara’s golden locks the whole time, soothing the hero’s eyes closed as she sighed contentedly. 

From the passenger seat, Alex studied the landscape as well, in a manner Iris immediately recognized. “So,” she began, “Kara mentioned you had a lab—but I can’t help but notice you take in your surroundings like my dad, and he’s been a cop for decades.”

She warmed at the low rumble of amusement she heard from her front seat companion. “I _do_ have a lab,” she confirmed. “But I also work for a military organization on our Earth responsible for monitoring alien activity.”

Iris startled before blushing at her reaction. With a self-deprecating laugh, she said, “I don’t know why I’m surprised to hear there are more aliens than just Kara on your Earth.”

With a nonchalant wave, Alex relaxed back into her seat. “Actually, a lot of the more problematic aliens arrived to Earth at the same time as Kara. Long story there,” she quickly added at seeing the familiar journalistic pique overtake Iris’s expression. “But even more have arrived since.”

Sensing she was heading into precarious territory, Iris still asked, “How do the humans feel about aliens coming to live among you?”

She caught the way Alex instantly looked once more out the window. “The same way humans typically respond to those they consider outsiders: Some of them are welcoming and some of them—” 

From the back seat, Kara’s soft interruption struck like a knife blade between Iris’s ribs. “Some of them, like Lillian Luthor, would rather see us sliced up like spare parts in a chop shop.” 

Cat pulled Kara fully into the circle of her hug, burying her face into golden locks as she did. 

Iris stole a quick glance toward Alex as she continued along the side streets skirting the main hub of the city. “No wonder you were so upset to hear you’re a Luthor here on this Earth.” 

Alex’s lips curled into a feral snarl. “Our Lillian Luthor is the head of a project that once worked in tandem with the agency I work for—back when the DEO incarcerated aliens quietly and indefinitely and passed them to CADMUS for—for things I’d rather not talk about.” 

Cat looked up in time to catch the luminous onyx gaze in the rearview mirror, studying her with a familiar fury. “And you’ve been trying to tell the truth to the public.” 

She nodded but it was once more Kara who responded. “And it nearly got her killed. Same with Alex. Having anything to do with me isn’t worth it. _I’m_ not worth it.” 

Reacting instinctively, Iris swerved to the curb and slammed to a stop, startling every other person in the car. Unhooking her seatbelt, she swiveled enough to face the back seat. Her whole demeanor shifted with impressive speed. “I love you, Kara, but that’s the biggest line of bullshit I’ve ever heard.”

Kara shook her head in disagreement, but Iris shut her down instantly. “You know there’s not one person on this Earth who doesn’t owe you their life, right? We’re not even your Earth, but you came here with Barry without question and without a second thought to your own safety, to help save us all. And there’s not one person here who has met you who doesn’t absolutely love you, just as much as I do.”

Reaching out between the two front seats, she relaxed into her relief at how Kara obediently accepted her hand. “Believe me, Kara. I understand better than I’d like to, the guilt of feeling like you’re the reason the people you love most are suffering.”

She breathed deeply, willing back the terrified, angry tears she felt constantly struggling for release. 

“But I also know, you cannot take the blame for the hurt someone else has caused you or the people you love. That’s _all_ on them.”

She continued holding strong to Kara’s hand. “What is all on _you_ is how much we love you and will do anything to keep you safe. Period.”

Leaning into Cat’s arms while returning Iris’s grip, Kara finally relented with a stiff nod.

“Good,” Iris declared with a sharp squeeze to Kara’s hand. Letting go, she rotated around once more in her seat, wiping her eyes before refastening her seatbelt. As she pulled back into traffic, she watched Cat hug the hero tightly, mouthing a quiet “thank you” at seeing Iris studying her again from her mirror.

They pulled up to the curb of her childhood home several minutes later. Kara was first out of and then around the car so swiftly, none of them saw her actually open their doors. However, she paused long enough to sling their bags over her shoulder and offer a hand to help Cat out of the backseat.

“Chivalrous,” the smaller blonde purred as she let Kara guide her from the car and into her arms, leading the way up toward the house.

Alex waited for Iris, watching their departure with a fond quirk of her brow. When she turned to face the woman now standing beside her, she said aloud what Cat had earlier conveyed. “Thank you for what you just said to my sister.”

“She needed to hear it.” Iris focused her full attention on Alex. “I think you all need to hear it to some degree.”

She steadied Alex with a hand on her forearm to keep her in place a moment longer. “Like I said, our Earth owes Kara our lives. She and anyone she trusts is welcome here, no questions asked.”

Alex quickly caught Iris’s wrist before she completely let go of her arm. Cinnamon eyes shone with gratitude. “The same is true for you, too, you know.” She tipped her head toward the car at the sight of curiosity furrowing Iris’s brow. “Sounds to me like you might be going through some rough times of your own?”

The breath she exhaled shook from her lips revealingly. “Things have been better,” she confirmed.

“Earth 38 might not be an oasis right now,” Alex stated, her eyes widening in a way that made Iris huff in understanding, “but if you need to get away, we’ve got you.”

“Maybe,” she replied. “Either way, when Barry and I make it through what’s happening right now, we would love to visit.” 

She held back the relief she felt at how Alex overlooked the uncertainty clear in her voice.

To draw farther away from the inescapable shadow of Savitar constantly threatening along the horizon, she continued, “It makes no sense to have the extrapolators Cisco built us and only use them when things get dire.”

Alex hesitated in her reply at the recognizably melodramatic sigh from the house porch. 

Not even bothering to cover her laughter, the brunette shrugged as she and Iris began up the walkway. “Cat Grant is many things, but patient is not one of them.”

Ahead of them, they heard, “And yet here I stand, waiting for you to finish trading secrets like you’re auditioning for that all-important _Gossip Girl_ reboot.”

The two approaching laughed even more at how Kara tugged Cat into her arms, smothering her with enough kisses to distract her from her feigned irritation.

Iris brought the three inside her dad’s home, showing them around and leading then upstairs to where they would sleep. After showing them everything they would need to settle in, she went back downstairs and started pulling out all the things she thought they would need to accommodate a houseful of hungry heroes eating and drinking into the evening.

As she set down the last batch of glasses she brought out to the dining room table, she gasped audibly at Kara’s sudden appearance before her. Without a word, the Kryptonian once again wrapped Iris in one of her biggest, most encompassing hugs.

Sensing the clear importance of touch as much-needed comfort to Kara, Iris returned the gesture with all the understanding and compassion she could offer. She could feel each shuddering breath Kara drew as she held onto her tightly—but she felt, too, the way impossibly taut muscles slowly released their tension beneath her hold. 

And that was how the evening went, with everyone from Earth 1 offering their guests the respite they needed and Kara as much physical comfort as they could—be it hugs or high-fives or, in what Cat and Alex were both certain was the oddest moment they’d witnessed in quite a while, when Ray landed in Kara’s hand while demonstrating the abilities of his A.T.O.M. suit. Even Cat couldn’t maintain her stoic disinterest at the sight of everyone huddling around Kara and squinting to watch him doing handstands from her palm before launching himself once more into the air to return to his normal size. 

The most amusing aspect of the evening, however, fell to Kara herself, thanks to Cisco coming through on his promise of something that could get even the Girl of Steel tipsy.

“Trust me, if it works for Barry, it’s gonna work for you!”

Getting a cautious shrug from Alex, Kara breathed deeply and threw back the container in one long gulp. The liquid burned a trail of flame down her throat she could actually feel, heating her belly and radiating out to the very tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head. 

After a ten-count pause in which everyone stared with unabashed curiosity at the Kryptonian, she inhaled in clear surprise before smiling brightly. “It feels kinda floaty,” she finally explained in words surprisingly slurred.

Alex chuckled while slipping her fingers through Kara’s belt loop and pulling her back down to the floor. “Gee, wonder why,” she razzed while guiding Kara back to where Cat curled contentedly into the couch corner. 

The smaller blonde happily draped an arm along the breadth of Kara’s shoulders to keep her moored. “Come here, Floaty Girl,” she purred, pleased to feel the hero shimmy closer with a sigh. 

As Alex always suspected, a drunk version of her sister ended up being an even gigglier version—a truth she enjoyed more with each musical note of Kara’s laughter.

For Cat, she couldn’t get enough of the hero’s even more heightened need for tactility. When the hero wasn’t playfully interacting with the others in the room, she was curled around Cat in various snuggling positions that caused everyone in the room to tease her unmercifully, but with undeniable affection. Even Mick seemed to soften at the sight of Kara, with her flushed cheeks and wide smiles, unable to satiate her abundant need for cuddles.

Only once the evening had flared down to mere embers of its former fire did Kara finally reach her saturation point. Head resting against Cat’s shoulder, she held the smaller blonde’s hand loosely between her own. She watched with sleepy eyes and a content hum as Iris rose from the chair across from her.

As she stretched, she addressed Kara. “I’m sorry Barry and my dad weren’t able to make it back in time tonight.” She met gazes with Cat and Alex. “I can’t wait for my dad to meet both of you.”

Cat leaned her head back against the couch cushion with a hint of amusement as Alex toasted the air with what had to be her ninth beer of the evening. 

Cisco and Ray returned from loading dishes and disposing of food cartons. “You ready, big guy?”

From his slouched position in the corner arm chair, Mick grumbled an incoherent string of sound that Ray somehow translated. “Sure, you can ride shotgun. Just keep your head out the window though.”

Iris grimaced at the unspoken warning of Ray’s comment as he pulled Rory to his feet and led him off to her car. She sighed with a wrinkle of her nose. “Looks like I’m breaking some speed limits tonight—unless you feel up to floating him back to the Waverider and sparing my car?” 

Kara giggled at the question, lifting her head slightly before reconsidering at the sensation of the room starting to spin and settling back in snugly against Cat. “That might not be the best game plan tonight.”

As she passed the hero, Iris patted her knee with a laugh. “Sleep it off, Super G. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

She winked at Sara, who sat next to Alex drinking another glass of the water she’d switched to an hour ago. “I’ll see to getting your crew home, Captain. You be good.”

Sara smirked at her lack of subtlety. “Best behavior, aye aye.”

As she walked away, she waved over her shoulder, her keys jingling in her grip as she did. When the front door clicked shut, Cat turned toward Sara and Alex. “And on that note, I think it’s time to get this one to bed.” She frowned as she nudged her shoulder upward gently to get Kara’s attention. “I don’t know how prepared either of us is for her first hangover.” 

“I’ll be fine,” Kara mumbled, trailing off into Kryptonese that drew a chuckle from Alex. 

“She either just botched a prayer to Rao or cursed all our houses. Either way, _i e te_, go on to bed.” 

The hero rose slowly to her feet, swaying long enough for Cat to reach out with a steadying grip. Kara nodded her thanks before turning once more toward the two remaining women. “I’m really glad to see you, Sara.” 

“Same, Kara—but don’t worry. We’ll be docked at the hangar for a little bit longer, so I’ll see you again.” 

The words drew a happy hum from the once more tottering hero. Leaning down, she pressed a kiss to Alex’s forehead. “You sure you don’t want me to stay?”

A low rumble of laughter rose from the brunette as she took in her sister’s drooping eyelids and sagging shoulders. Cat hovered close by, her expression soft and indulgent in ways that filled Alex with the familiar ache of joy for Kara.

“Go to bed, Supergirl. I’ve got first watch.” 

She tipped her beer bottle toward the sleepy hero, her grin lopsided and her own gaze slightly blurred from the beers she’d already finished. 

With a conciliatory sigh, Kara pressed two fingers to her lips, kissing them as she backed away. “ _ukiemodh w rr ip eh, ie te_.”

Alex’s smile shone brightly. “I love you, too, my sister—on every Earth in the multiverse.”

The soft sniffle from Kara finally drew Cat closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her upstairs. As they walked, Kara leaned into her embrace, barely controlling how heavily she canted toward the smaller blonde.

As they disappeared from view and Alex turned back around, Sara couldn’t resist wanting to keep the mood between them light.

“You and Kara are going to cause me to go into diabetic coma if you don’t stop being so adorable.”

The captain enjoyed the low melody of Alex’s laugh. “We can get pretty damn sappy.”

“It’s nice,” Sara countered.

“It wasn’t always nice—between us,” she clarified at Sara’s perplexed frown. She took a deep breath. “Kara and I—her cousin brought her to our family when I was fourteen and I had to get through some pretty selfish bullshit on my part when she first arrived.”

Sara scoffed playfully at the brunette’s self-deprecating comment. “You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. That’s pretty on-point for most sisters.”

Pain cut sharply beneath the teasing—a wound too deep to ever heal. Alex merely nodded, however, sensing the underlying tension and not wanting to push Sara away from their conversation. 

“Good to know,” she finally offered, pleased to see Sara settle a bit more in her seat. 

Fingers tapped absently at the glass in her hand as Sara debated her next question. “So, is there anyone else besides Kara you get to be disgustingly adorable with?”

Cinnamon eyes flooded with flickers of distress, and the bottle nearly raised to Alex’s lips slowly lowered once more to rest on her knee. Sara heard the hard click of her swallow and instantly regretted her question.

“You know what? It’s none of my business.”

Alex raised her empty hand, shaking her head to silence the blonde. She took another moment to compose herself before replying, “Is ‘it’s complicated’ as big a cliché on this Earth as it is on ours?”

Chuckling at the joke, Sara nodded. “Afraid so.”

The responding smile Alex offered did nothing to disguise her pain. “Her name is Maggie. And, not to be _that_ cliché, but things are seriously complicated right now.”

“Is that why she’s not here with you?”

Sara instantly felt guilty at how her question bowed Alex’s head and slumped her shoulders. “We agreed I needed to focus on Kara while here—and we both needed a moment to collect ourselves and to process the latest revelation from all the shit we’ve been through recently.”

Nervous energy collected in the pit of Sara’s gut as she asked the inevitable question. “What exactly have you all been through?”

The sound to escape Alex almost convinced Sara it was a laugh—but all the blonde could hear was the fresh agony of whatever her question had stirred.

“Things so terrible, my sister and Cat are both broken in ways we might never be able to fix.”

Glancing down at the glass in her hand, Sara considered—and then promptly reconsidered—telling Alex what Gideon had already revealed to her about all their health statuses. Now was not the time, so instead she offered, “Maybe they will always be broken—but even if that’s true, I gotta say, their broken edges fit perfectly together.”

Alex’s sigh sounded as though it rose all the way up from her boot soles. “Cold comfort at the moment.”

Understanding the brunette’s dismay, Sara decided a change in tactics might be a better approach.

“Hey, you wanna go with me to the Waverider and work out?” 

Seeing the confused unease growing in Alex’s expression, Sara raised her empty hand in surrender and quickly continued, “I seriously mean exercise. I’m not using weird euphemisms to seduce you, I swear.” 

She laughed at the brunette’s slightly embarrassed smile and couldn’t help but tease, “Not that I wouldn’t try something if you _were_ single.”

Happy for the fact that it was dim enough in the room she didn’t think Sara could see the blush she felt burning in her cheeks, Alex took a pull from her beer, hoping the bottle hid her goofy grin from view. 

“I just know, when I have a lot of stuff going on in my head, it helps to distract myself for a while with a hella good workout.”

Alex nodded at the words. “I’m going to pass tonight.” She looked instinctively back toward the stairs. “Kara—I know Cat will take care of her when she has nightmares.”

Sara shivered slightly at Alex’s unflinching certainty regarding Kara’s nightmares. 

“I just—I’d like to be close if Cat needs any help waking her up or calming her down.”

“I get it,” the captain replied, wanting more than anything to offer to help—but feeling frustratingly clueless as to how.

“But if you want to join me in the morning, I was planning on getting totally turned around and lost on a run through Central City.”

Drinking the rest of her water, Sara smiled gratefully at how Alex took the empty glass from her before rising from her seat. She stretched to straighten out the kinks from her muscles with a satisfied sigh before turning toward Alex. “I would absolutely like that. What time should I meet you here?” 

“Seven?”

Regardless of how early that sounded to her, Sara didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll be here. And if we happen to find a coffee place on the way back, the java’s on me.” 

Alex tipped her bottle once more toward the captain, a hazy smile and a glassy stare clear signs of the inebriation and exhaustion betraying her focus. “Sleep well, Sara.” 

Jamming her hands into the pockets of her jacket, she made her way toward the door. “Good night, Alex.” 

She caught the small wave from the brunette before spinning and marching off to where she’d parked her bike. 

The drive back to the hangar sailed by in a vision of blurred taillights and the cacophony of the day’s events pounding through her brain.

Back on board the Waverider, she found herself on the bridge before she even realized where her strides were leading her. As she halted in front of the main navigational console, she grinned at the intuitive appearance of the A.I. hologram and the warm greeting instantly offered at her arrival. 

“Good evening, Captain. I hope you had a pleasant time off-ship with our Earth 38 guests.”

“I did, Gideon,” she sighed, aware that her tone did not match her words. “That’s actually why I’m here. I need your help.”

“You spoke with Kara about my offer?”

“Not yet,” she confessed, succumbing briefly to a surprising sensation of guilt at letting down the ship’s A.I. “I’d like to broach that subject when they’re all rested—and sober.”

“Understandable, Captain. How else, then, might I assist you?”

“It’s a research assignment, actually.” She fidgeted briefly with one of the buckles on her jacket before stilling her nerves and her hands. “I’d like you to locate Kara Zor-El.”

“Captain?” The confusion was clear in Gideon’s voice. 

“I want you to see how long range your long-range sensors actually are. If it still exists in our universe, find Krypton. Find _our_ Kara Zor-El.”

When no response immediately came, Sara wondered if she’d once again overstepped allowable actions and if Gideon were preparing a polite but definite refusal of her request.

“I will consult my star maps and begin my search now. Hopefully, I will have a location and a definitive answer regarding if my scanners are up to the challenge of your request.”

Once more fighting back the betraying signs of her emotions, Sara replied, “Thank you, Gideon.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll, uh, I’ll have some more specific questions in the morning if you confirm success.”

“Of course, Captain. Until then, sleep well.”

Unfortunately, Sara’s sleep was anything but restful. Gideon’s revelations circled through her thoughts, battering her heart and twisting through her insides like barbed wire. She knew from words quietly exchanged with Iris that none of the Earth 38 guests had divulged any details concerning their recent turmoil, but that they had taken a dark toll on Kara especially. Though she had refrained from mentioning Gideon’s scan of Kara, for fear the hero might tune in at just the wrong moment, there was no denying that their friend had, indeed, suffered since they last saw her. 

Realizing sleep was simply not going to be an option, Sara rolled out of bed with a frustrated groan and checked her chronometer. With _plenty_ of time to spare before she needed to meet Alex, she threw together a suitable set of workout clothes, took a leisurely shower and changed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as she studied her features for noticeable signs of exhaustion. Pleased to find nothing too obvious, she scooped up her helmet and keys and headed for the galley. 

Unsurprisingly, she was the only one awake on board the ship. She grabbed a protein bar and programmed a coffee while checking in with the A.I.

“Tell, me some good news, Gideon.”

“Actually, Captain, I can do just that. I’ve located Krypton and confirmed it does still exist in our universe.”

Something about the words struck an instant blow to Sara’s emotional control. She coughed out a sound somewhere between jubilation and pain. The A.I. went noticeably quiet, allowing the captain to grapple with her response to the news. 

“That’s, um, that’s really great news, Gideon.” She cleared the grind of glass and gravel from her voice. “Thank you for finding it.” 

“Of course, Captain. I’ve also confirmed my long-range scanners are just as impressive as the rest of me.” Sara huffed at the oddly fitting statement from the A.I. “I’ve been able to pull together a translation key and am sorting through some of the less-protected public databases to put together information to match your request. I can confirm at this point that Kara Zor-El does still live on Krypton, in a province of Argo City.”

An image flashed unbidden from Sara’s memory, of Kara wrapped comfortably in Cat’s arms, laughing at something her sister had whispered just for her hearing from all the way across the room. 

In a far more uncertain tone, Sara asked, “Do you think this is the right thing, Gideon?” 

“How do you mean, Captain?” 

Sinking into a galley chair, she explained, “I just wanted to give Kara something to help her right now—you know? Some small piece of comfort, that maybe here, her home survives and she’s happy with her people. But—”

“She is happy with her sister and her partner.” 

“Exactly.” 

“Are you happy, Captain?” 

Sara drew up at the unexpected question. “Well, yeah, as happy as I can be leading a timeship full of misfits,” she joked.

“Could you also find happiness in knowing a version of you was leading a completely different existence on another Earth, where certain life events came out vastly different?”

Unable to tamp down the instant response of her memories, she blinked against the blurry images of her sister that shimmered in her mind’s eye. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I could.” 

“Then consider that Kara Zor-El could be capable of the same.”

With a nod to herself, Sara confirmed, “Okay, so keep digging then. See if you can find out what she does on Krypton, who she is there. And see if you can find any records on why this Krypton survived. What did they change or fix?”

“I will do my best, but I will need at least a full day—possibly more. And will you be sharing my offer with Kara this morning?”

“I’m actually heading over to see her sister now. After we get back from our run, I was going to have a talk with Kara.”

“Good luck, Captain.”

“Thanks,” and quickly finishing off the coffee she’d been drinking, she cleaned up and hurried off to where she’d parked her bike. She easily retraced her ride from the previous evening, pulling up in front of Joe’s house and parking at the curb. After fastening her helmet to the rack on the back, she jogged up the stairs and knocked on the door.

Tamping down the inexplicable—and thoroughly annoying—nerves she felt tingling up her spine, she gave a tiny wave when she saw Alex swing open the door, already smiling as she did. “Hope it’s okay if I’m slightly early.” Her amusement grew. “Actually, you should be amazed I’m here early. I am _not_ a morning person.”

As Alex stepped outside onto the porch and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could, she chuckled while pocketing the house key. “Well then, I commend you on a job well executed.”

Sara nudged into Alex’s shoulder as she passed. Following after her down the stairs, she pointed back toward the house. “Do either Cat or Kara want to join us?”

“Nah,” Alex exhaled as she fell into a series of pre-run stretches. “They’re both still fast asleep. They didn’t even stir when I heard Joe come in last night or leave for work this morning.” She dipped low into a hip flexor stretch as she watched Sara do a standing quad stretch. “Kara had such a surprisingly quiet night, I think I might be asking Cisco for the recipe to whatever drink he gave her.” 

Beneath the kidding comment, Sara could hear her relief. “No worries. We can pick up some coffee and pastries for Kara on the way back. I know a place that sells a coffee drink named the Flash. I bet she’ll enjoy that.”

Alex huffed as she drew up to full height and shook out her limbs one final time. “Oh, don’t tell Kara that. She might go back to our Earth and try to convince our coffee shop to name all their donuts after Supergirl.” 

Smile fully on display as she straightened up, Sara countered, “I would make the trip to Earth 38 just for those donuts.”

The brunette chuckled as she started jogging away from Sara. “Guess we need to burn off those calories preemptively then,” she called over she shoulder, laughing fully at Sara running to catch up with her. 

The two women ran for nearly two hours, each pleasantly surprised at the way they matched the other in speed and endurance. Sara let Alex lead most of the way, diverting her whenever she realized they were heading too far afield of the city center where Sara wanted their run to end. 

When finally they reached CC Jitters, Sara surprised Alex by purchasing the entire first two racks of pastries in addition to the coffees Alex indicated for the Earth 38 trio. As she waited for her credit card to clear, she shrugged off the brunette’s shock. 

“I know we only had your sister here for a little while when she helped us, but the one thing we all quickly learned is, a well-fed Kryptonian is a happy Kryptonian.” 

Alex snorted softly but held back her response at the sight of Sara’s expression sobering. “And we all really want to help Kara find her way back to ‘happy Kryptonian’ mode, if we can.” 

Evidence of deeper meaning held Alex’s gaze to Sara’s, held her breath in her chest as she nodded her understanding. 

Craving a lighter mood, Sara grabbed two of the bags presented by the cashier and slammed them playfully into Alex’s chest. “Hope you’ve got enough energy left to haul all these back to the house.”

The brunette offered a scoffing huff in retort, eyes bright with gratitude. 

As they walked back to Joe’s, they sipped their own coffees and chatted aimlessly. Alex enjoyed how Sara was content to listen to random ramblings, no expectation in sight regarding deeper conversations she had little energy to handle. 

Opening the door, Alex led the way into the living room, freezing by the couch at the unsettlingly familiar sounds coming from upstairs. She flashed to the similarity of the first time she’d heard that particular pitch and tone coming from Cat, at her sister’s apartment, and knew her cheeks had flushed brightly with the memory.

“Not again,” she sighed, dropping the bags to the couch so she could rub the crinkle furrowing her forehead.

Try though she did not to show her amusement, Sara couldn’t hold back the low chuckle as she processed both the sounds from upstairs and Alex’s mortified acceptance of the situation. “ _Again_?” 

Throwing a healthy dose of side-eye toward the clearly amused captain, Alex explained, “That would be the second time I’ve walked in to the sounds of them—”

Unable to finish her thought in words, she waggled her fingers in the general direction of the stairs.

“The first time was actually toward the end of the first day they went at it with each other.”

“Wait. The first _day_? As in all day?”

Unable not to hear the awe in Sara’s voice, she sighed, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but Cat Grant doesn’t do anything by halves.”

“Or anyone.”

Alex nearly groaned in response to Sara’s awful pun, holding back the moment she heard Cat make a similar sound for far different reasons.

“Do you need to go running again? Because you definitely look like you want to bolt from this room and through the door.”

Teasing though the comment was, Alex glanced longingly toward the door. As she began quick calculations in her head of how long it would take her to run the block a few more times, she visibly flinched at the clearly climactic cry that ceased all further vocalizations.

Afterward, they heard the sound of a door opening and movement shifting from bedroom to bathroom and back for several minutes before moving toward the stairs.

Cat appeared around the split level of the staircase first, dressed in a sapphire silk robe that halted slightly above her knee. Beneath where the two sides of the robe overlapped, Sara could see the hint of a matching sapphire negligee. Her blonde locks looked freshly smoothed but still obviously tousled in a way Sara found both alluring and amusing. By the way Cat’s lips curled upward on one side, she knew the smaller blonde had intuited her reaction.

“Good morning, Sara.”

The captain merely nodded, her dimpled chin quivering slightly from her effort to hold back a grin at Cat’s bold unrepentance.

Kara slinked sheepishly behind her in matching camisole and boxers imprinted with, of all things, skating penguins. Sara lost the battle to hold back her laughter at not only the adorably ridiculous outfit but also at the adorably nervous way Kara shuffled to a stop and hesitantly looked toward her sister.

“You, um, y-you heard us?”

With an incredulous and incredibly loud snort, Alex replied, “I’m pretty sure Earth 38—and every Earth in between—heard _that_.”

To the chagrin of the Danvers sisters but much to Sara’s enjoyment, Cat’s shoulders shimmied joyfully, a coquettish grin tripping along her lips as she ran a hand through Kara’s hair. “Well, darling, you definitely had me vibrating at _several_ different frequencies.”

Sara’s easy laughter deepened Cat’s amusement. “I am _totally_ on the wrong Earth.” 

Never one to miss a beat, Cat turned her coyest grin toward the captain and replied, “If one of those coffees is for me, I will happily secure you transport back with us on Kryptonian Air.”

“Hey,” Kara huffed, “I’m not a commuter plane, you know.”

“Of course not, darling,” Cat soothed, her fingers scratching a well-known pattern against Kara’s nape. 

“I honestly wouldn’t mind visiting you, though,” Sara offered, happy to see the bright smile her comment brought to Kara’s face. 

“Iris said something similar last night.”

At Kara’s confused but excited stare, Alex finished, “Maybe we should coordinate some kind of monthly interdimensional game night.”

Sara nodded as she pulled one of the coffees from the carrier she held and handed it to Cat. “Team Legend will totally kick your asses at trivia night any day of the week.”

Sipping daintily from the cup, Cat grimaced and tugged off the lid, raising both the coffee and an eyebrow as she looked toward Kara. The hero sniffed with understanding and shot two controlled beams into the liquid until it once more steamed to what she knew was Cat’s preferred temperature. 

“Fuck me, that’s awesome.”

Alex blurted out a guffaw at Kara’s telling blush, remembering with the slightest twinge of sadness the way Maggie had flustered her sister with a similar declaration.

Cat took it all in stride, happily sipping her now scorching coffee while moving toward the couch. Retrieving one of the bags now darkened in places by buttery stains, she passed it back to the Kryptonian as she settled into its former place.

“I believe this should rejuvenate some of the energy you just worked off.”

_“Cat.”_

The hero flushed as crimson as her cape even as she joined Cat on the couch and rummaged through the bag. Her embarrassment morphed into a startlingly high-pitched squeal of joy the moment she spied a giant gooey pastry at the bottom of the bag. She froze with the pastry nearly touching her lips, however, at the unwavering way Cat stared at her. 

“Napkins first, darling.” 

Sara gasped at the cyclonic swirl of air that whipped through the room, settling at the same time as Kara back on the couch, a fistful of napkins in one hand and, conspicuously, nothing in the other. Cat merely shook her head as she wiped away the glob of raspberry jam that lingered in the corner of the hero’s mouth, holding her thumb perfectly still in front of Kara’s lips. 

“Oh, god, please stop it,” Alex huffed at the sight of her sister sucking away the sticky remains of her breakfast, scooping up the other bag so she could slam down against Kara’s other side. The hero shifted just in time to make the landing less painful for the brunette while shooting her a playful glare. Alex purposefully ignored the look, instead snatching a napkin from Kara’s hand and using it to select a cinnamon-dusted apple fritter from her bag. 

Flopping down into the chair diagonal to the couch, Sara exhaled sharply and rubbed her hands along her thighs to dry her suddenly damp palms. She met gazes with each visitor, her expression clearly signaling a mood change for the room. “So, I need to talk with you all about something that’s unfortunately going to be a lot less fun than these past few minutes have been—but also will hopefully help you.”

Kara squirmed at the way Sara focused solely on her with the last word of her statement. “M-me? What—why do I need help?”

“Gideon scanned you all when you came on board yesterday.” 

The captain caught the flinch in Kara’s posture at how Alex stiffened at the news. She quickly raised her hands, hoping to calm the situation. “It’s a standard ship security protocol—nothing more.”

Realization clicking into place, Kara’s expression grew distressed. “She told you.”

“Yeah.”

Sara reached out, gripping Kara’s knee in the hope that it would keep her focused on the present rather than whatever past horrors loomed in her stricken gaze. “Gideon believes she can help you.”

Alex latched onto her statement with ferocious hope. “Your A.I. thinks she can heal Kara’s organ damage? How?” 

“She believes she has the ability to overstimulate Kara’s natural healing ability and force it into correcting the damage. She also said one of the damaged organs has shown some regrowth, but the other hasn’t.” 

Beside Kara, Cat looped their arms together and declared, “That’s all wonderful news.”

“Is it really possible?”

The question, soft and timid from Kara’s lips, broke Alex’s heart, hearing the hope of once more being whole—and the fear of it all being nothing more than a promise unobtainable.

Tempering her own voice, she cautiously replied, “I would need to see Gideon’s readings to give a better answer, but it might be possible to kick your healing into overdrive to force repairs—kind of like how an adrenaline rush will restart your powers after you recharge from a solar flare.”

Turning away from Kara’s watery gaze, Alex focused on Sara. “I have Kara’s medical history with me.” 

At the sound of her sister’s surprised gasp, she sighed, “Did you really think I was going to come to a whole new Earth without _all_ our medical records?”

The emphasis sparked a thought in Kara’s mind. “What about Cat? Gideon had to have noted she’s missing her spleen.”

“She did,” Sara confirmed. “But she didn’t mention any surgical options.” She looked apologetically toward the CEO as she stated this. 

Cat merely brushed aside the statement while encouraging Kara to loosen her increasing grip. “I can live just fine without a spleen. It’s my liver that matters most to me anyway.”

Sara smirked at the joke even as Kara focused her upset gaze on the CEO. “Cat.”

“Kara, you do _not_ need to worry about this. Instead, you need to get your insanely sexy Kryptonian ass back to the Waverider so Gideon can confirm if she can help you.”

A finger pressed quickly against her lips curtailed the hero’s protests before she could even start. “We will ask Gideon if she can help me,” the smaller blonde finally conceded, “but the focus at the moment is on helping _you_ , Kara. Please.” 

The softly added request at the end was all it took to soothe Kara’s consternation. With a nod, the hero turned toward Sara. Rising from where she sat, she responded to Kara’s unspoken question. “Gideon is ready whenever you are.”

“Now?”

Cat huffed at the uncertain uptick in Kara’s voice. “Now,” she confirmed, rising and tugging at Kara’s hand. Eyebrow inching upward in slow increments, she finished, “We can shower together to save time.” 

“Jesus, Cat, I’m _right here_.”

Ignoring Alex’s plea, the smaller blonde continued toward the stairs, pulling her blushing hero closely behind. “You might not want to be for much longer.”

When they were once again gone from view, Alex sighed while shaking her head. Her expression, however, betrayed her hopefulness for her sister. 

“Come on,” Sara declared as she rose from her seat. “Grab a change of clothes and the medical records you brought for Kara. I can get you back to the Waverider while they—definitely do more things that are going to scar you emotionally anyway, so better not to be here to witness it.” 

“Well, when you put it that way,” Alex laughed, running up the stairs to grab her backpack and hurry back to where Sara waited. Leaving the bags of pastries on the coffee table where they knew Kara would see them, they quickly made their way to Sara’s bike. 

Even Alex was impressed (and slightly unsettled) by the speeds at which Sara navigated along the city perimeter, back toward Waverider. When she finally hopped off on surprisingly unsteady legs, she couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Do you fly your ship the way you drive your bike?” 

Tossing her helmet toward the brunette as she passed, she joked, “You’ll just have to find that out for yourself.” 

Inside the ship, Alex hurried through getting cleaned up and changed so Sara could set her up in the med bay while she went off for her second shower of the morning. She pulled a laptop from her pack and booted it up to Kara’s records, calling to the ship’s A.I. as she did, “Gideon, do you have a wireless signal I can try to link to, or is there another way you can access these records?” 

Silence held out for a few more moments before the laptop signaled its connection to the ship’s A.I. 

“I’m now analyzing Kara’s records and extrapolating the data I will need to verify how to implement my treatment. However, I can confirm preliminarily that I will be able to heal Kara.”

Through the gauzy shine of her emotions, Alex managed to ask, “What about Cat? Is there anything you can do for her?” 

“I’m downloading her records now. I am nearly one hundred percent positive I can help her as well, Dr. Danvers.” 

Alex chuckled as she leaned against the wall by the entrance. “You can call me Alex, Gideon. Dr. Danvers makes me sound like my mother—not that that’s a bad thing,” she added, “but I prefer things a little less formal.”

“Of course, Alex.” 

By the time Sara returned to the med bay, she found Alex and Gideon deeply enmeshed in a discussion about the full extent of the ship’s medical capabilities.

“So, what’s the final diagnosis?” 

Straightening from leaning her elbows against the sideboard where she was studying her laptop, she gave Sara a bright smile. “Gideon is all set to help both Cat and Kara.”

Sara’s enthusiasm instantly matched Alex’s. “All right, Gideon! Virtual high-five.”

“Thank you, Captain.” An alarm chirped and the A.I announced, “Kara has just entered visual range.”

Sara and Alex met glances and instantly fell into sync as they left the med bay and headed down toward the ship’s starboard entrance. When they found Mick perched atop one of the many cargo crates in the ship’s hold, downing the rest of a beer, Sara gave him an odd glance while opening the hatch. 

“Do you normally drink your breakfast beer in the cargo hold?”

“No.”

“Okay.” She caught the way Alex turned away with a chuckle to watch Kara and Cat enter through the bay door. “So, what are you doing down here?” 

“Mr. Rory asked me to alert him when Ms. Zor-El was scheduled to return to the ship.” 

Mick glared up at the ceiling while growling “Snitch” beneath his breath. In his normal voice, he said, “Skirt’s here,” while pointing toward her with his nearly empty bottle. 

Confused by the statement, Sara gave her best “And?” gesture, hoping it would encourage further explanation for his increasingly strange behavior.

As if annoyed he needed to provide further explanation, he counted off with a gloved hand, “Skirt’s hot. Skirt’s skirt is snarky and hot. Skirt’s sister is scary and hot.” 

He concluded his statement with a look that indicated he thought his line of logic was perfectly clear. It was the subtle way he cast assessing glances toward Kara, however, that indicated once more to Sara his deeper reasons for wanting to keep watch over the hero. 

Deciding it was in everyone’s best interest to simply roll with the moment, she waved toward the corridor for the Earth 38 guests to precede her while admonishing Mick, “You know you have zero chance with any of them, right?”

“You suck at pep talks,” he growled as he hopped down and passed her to follow behind Kara.

The captain inhaled sharply at the sentiment. As she jogged ahead of the group, she mumbled to herself, “I’m _awesome_ at pep talks.”

Reaching their destination, Kara watched as her sister, Sara, and Cat entered the med bay first. Her steps faltered to a halt at the threshold, however, her breaths shifting shallow and quick within her chest.

The med bay’s antiseptic smell slammed into her senses with the force of one of Reactron’s concussive blasts, alighting poisonous memories too overpowering for her to contain. A wounded howl gurgled up from somewhere deep in her gut, and Mick barely shifted out of her way as she threw herself back from the entrance.

The three others turned with varying degrees of startled confusion at the metal-screeching crash behind them. Sara’s eyes widened at the sight of the Kryptonian-shaped dent Kara left where she had hit against the corridor wall opposite the med bay entrance. More startlingly were the hand holds she had punched through the corridor’s flooring where she’d fallen, as though literally clinging to the ship for dear life.

“Kara?”

Cat caught the glint of heat vision rising in the hero’s eyes and, without hesitation, shoved Sara out of what she estimated was Kara’s line of fire.

The two blondes tumbled in a tangled mess to the left of the med bay entrance while Alex slid to the right as twin beams lanced through the air. 

“Kara, stop!” 

Alex hoped her shout might reach her sister, but she could tell from the petrified freeze of her expression that Kara was locked far away from her in whatever horrifying flashback she was reliving. 

Guttural cries ripped from her throat, her neck muscles tense and thick as steel cables as she screamed out barely formed words against the attacker vivid in her mind. Only after several repetitions did those around her realize she was begging for mercy Sara quickly understood had been unforgivably denied. 

From the opposite end of the corridor, Mick caught the sound of heavy footsteps. His head shot up from where he had taken cover in one of the entryways in time to see Ray, Jax, and Amaya practically collide into each other as they charged into view. 

“Get the hell back,” he snarled, partly for their protection but mostly because the thought of them invading Kara’s privacy while she was in such a state flared fury through his brain. 

Only when he saw them retreat obediently did he settle once more into the protection of his threshold. 

For several more minutes, they all sat frozen in place by the unbearable fear and suffering that choked each sound torn from her fiercely trembling body. Slowly, however, the sounds shifted progressively lower and the sporadic bursts of heat vision crackled into nothing more than the residual sharp scent of ozone. 

Peeking around the edge of the med bay entrance, Cat barely caged her own responding cry at the sight before her. Now curled into a position so compact it made Cat’s body ache, Kara continued to softly plead against the phantom assault that left her twitching and gasping in pain.

Moving slowly, Cat crawled across the corridor to kneel beside Kara. She caught the concern in Alex’s voice as she hissed for her return to the safety of cover. Instead, she reached out and delicately brushed back Kara’s hair from her shoulder.

The hero’s response was a terrified jolt that slammed her back against the corridor wall once more, her heat vision pulsing threateningly against her tenuous control. Refusing to cower back, Cat moved directly in front of Kara, her eyes watering painfully from staring into the twin supernovas of her wide, fiery stare. 

Sorting quickly through the few Kryptonese words she felt certain she understood, she finally settled her hands delicately over the scorching heat of Kara’s cheeks and pleaded, _“sokao—, zhor te. tulemodh w rr ip eh.”_

The grounding effect of her native language took long enough to reach her that Cat worried at what she realized was quite a haphazard move on her part. However, finally Kara’s heat vision dimmed to nothing more than twin afterimages Cat had to blink several times to clear. 

“Cat?” 

“It’s all right, Kara.” 

She settled back against her heels, her hands dropping to grip Kara’s knees. She could feel the scorched skin of her palms already tingling with the telling sensation of her enhanced healing. She only hoped in the meantime, she wasn’t marking Kara’s jeans with traces of her injuries.  

“You had a flashback—I suspect triggered by something in the med bay.” 

Kara swallowed against the unsettling foreign sensation of nausea. “The smell,” she rasped, shuddering in disgust. 

Behind her, Cat heard Alex and Sara shuffle carefully out into the corridor. Sara ached at the sight of Kara so pale and reduced by fear. “We can figure out how to do this somewhere else, Kara. You don’t have to go back in there.” 

Kara looked up, the movement releasing tears down her cheeks. “I can do it,” she rejoined. “I’ll be okay.” 

Rather than argue, Sara instead extended her hand to the hero. Beside her, Alex did the same, her smile comforting and sure. 

“Come on, _i e te_.”

Shaking hands reached up slowly enough for Cat to slip to the side and rise up on her own. As she checked her palms, confirming their repair, she looked up in time to watch Sara and Alex drag Kara up to her feet. Alex continued to pull even after Sara let go, tugging Kara into the circle of her strongest hug. 

After several moments of greedily absorbing the strength of her sister’s hold, she finally backed away and faced Sara with a regretful frown. 

“I’m sorry for hurting your ship.”

Sara didn’t need to turn toward where Kara indicated, the image of the damage imprinted as vividly in her mind’s eye as it was into the corridor’s metal. 

“It’s nothing we can’t repair, Kara—after we repair you.” 

Cat crossed to the hero’s side, resting a hand against Kara’s back for support as she guided her once more into the med bay. 

Down the corridor, Sara caught the sound of Mick once more sending off the rest of the Waverider crew with gruffly snapped chastisements about respecting Kara’s privacy. He then moved closer, taking position like some surly sentinel at the med bay’s entrance. 

As Kara climbed into one of the exam chairs, Alex gripped her forearm and offered her a comforting smile. “First things first: Gideon really can heal you completely—Cat as well,” she added, cutting off the question she could practically hear forming in her sister’s thoughts. “We’re going to focus on you now, but I promise you, we will take care of Cat, too.”

The hero reached out, knowing without question Cat would be there to hold her hand. “That’s—that’s really great to hear. Thank you, Gideon.”

The A.I.’s cool intonation soothed her still raw nerves. “It’s my pleasure, Kara. The procedure shouldn’t take long, but I have recommended to your sister that we should sedate you for maximum comfort.” 

Seeing the fearful shift of Kara’s features, Alex gripped her shoulder with a shake of her head. “It’s okay, Kara. Gideon couldn’t say with certainty that you wouldn’t feel something from the regeneration process, so we agreed sedation was the best route.”

She pressed her other hand against her sister’s cheek. “We’ll be with you the whole time you’re asleep, I promise. You won’t feel a thing and when you wake up, no more physical damage, right?” 

Glancing toward Cat, who leaned in and softly kissed her cheek, she breathed out nervously but declared, “Then let’s do this.”

With a quick, strong squeeze to her sister’s shoulder, Alex easily transitioned into medical mode. “All right, Gideon. As we discussed, we’ll need to go with inhaled anesthesia. I decided not to bring a kryptonite tourniquet with me.” 

She caught Kara’s questioning stare. “I figured, if you needed that at any point while we were here, I would need to get you back to our Earth anyway. Besides, do you really want me lugging kryptonite on vacation?”

Kara sank down in the chair with a concessionary frown. “Not really.” 

“Good call.” 

Redirecting her words, she accepted the mask from Sara and connected it to the slot Gideon had helpfully lit on the wall’s monitoring panel. “Gideon, I know the number in my data is high, but this is the correct dose of sevoflurane for Kara’s physiology.”

“Understood.” 

She carefully fit the mask over Kara’s mouth and nose, noting the twitch of Cat’s eye as she did. 

“Easy, _i e te_. Loosen your grip on Cat’s hand.” 

At the obvious easing of her hold, Alex said, “Okay, I need you to count backward from fifty.” 

They all listened as Kara slowly stumbled through her countdown attempt, first in English then in Kryptonese, before finally slipping into silence. 

Alex brushed back a lock of hair behind her sister’s ear with a tender smile. 

“Gideon?”

“Yes, Alex?” 

“If you mess up my sister in any way, I know people who can turn you into a glorified Slushie machine.” 

“Yes, Alex.” 

Of course, the threat was ultimately unnecessary, Kara’s procedure over in less time than it took Mick to sing the entirety of “Bohemian Rhapsody” to himself, much to the amusement of the women inside the med bay. 

Gideon’s voice once more broke into the surprisingly comfortable silence of the room. “All readings indicate full restoration of both of Kara’s previously damaged organs.” 

Unwilling to betray herself to the emotions Gideon’s declaration pulled easily to her surface, Alex instead leaned close and softly kissed her sister’s temple. Across from her, Cat continued to hold Kara’s hand, her thumb sweeping gently across her knuckles. 

“She shouldn’t wake up in here.”

Sara glanced over her shoulder, taken aback not only by Mick’s sudden proximity but also by his somber focus on Kara.

“Mr. Rory makes a valid point,” Gideon agreed. “If you moved her to the guest quarters here in this section of the ship, I can continue to monitor her vitals and, should anything go wrong, you could have her back here in moments. However,” the A.I. added, “I don’t foresee any problems. The procedure was successful and her readings indicate all she needs to do now is awaken from anesthesia.”

Grunting at Gideon’s answer, Mick carefully removed the mask from Kara’s face. He surprised Sara, however, by looking to Alex and Cat. “She’s safe.”

Sara could see Alex’s brows draw together curiously. Cat tipped back her head, expression perfectly composed. “We trust you to keep her that way.”

With a low murmur of sound, Mick continued to move, once more surprising all three with how carefully he scooped Kara into his arms. He stood up slowly, letting Kara’s weight shift softly back against his chest. Without looking anywhere other than her relaxed features, he headed off toward the guest quarters.

Finding herself now the focus of Alex and Cat’s inquisitive gazes, Sara just shrugged. “He’s kind of his own drummer _and_ marcher,” she finally offered before turning and leading them after him.

By the time they caught up to him, he was settling Kara down atop the guest room bed’s comforter. Her head lolled to one side as he slid his arms from under her, a golden strand of hair settling loosely across her cheek. Mick instinctively reached out to brush it back, his gloved hand halting inches away before retracting as though he had touched fire itself. 

With a deep, quick inhalation, he stood and spun, marching out the quarters without a word to anyone. Sara pivoted in time with his unexpectedly hurried departure, rushing behind him through the guest quarter doors just as they were sliding shut.

“Rory!”

The snap of her tone paused his movement, but he stared down the empty corridor rather than face her. Unperturbed by his avoidance, she circled around in front of him. When he continued to avoid her stare, she threw her hands in the air with a frustrated sigh.

“What’s your deal, Mick?” 

Her question drew a sideways glance from him. “It pisses me off, okay?”

Seeing Sara’s bewilderment, he looked away again before continuing, “There shouldn’t be any Earth out there with anyone who’d intentionally hurt someone like her.” 

Sara hitched her shoulders, confused by Mick’s vague response. “What? Alien?”

To her complete shock, he growled, _“Kind!”_  

His teeth clacked together so tightly under the strain of his anger, Sara worried he might crack every one of his molars. “The whole goddamned universe took everything from her, and she’s still _kind_.” 

Clearly finished with the conversation, he walked away, calling out in an unusually craggy voice, even for him, “Get Haircut if she needs moving again. He can bore her sister with how much Skirt looks like his cousin.” 

Sara stared down the empty corridor for several beats as she processed Mick’s words and behavior. With a soft sigh, she returned to the guest quarters.

Crossing the bedroom’s threshold, she instantly felt intrusive to the scene before her. Cat had curled around Kara, tucking the hero against her and wrapping an arm protectively around her waist. Alex leaned against the bed’s edge, kissing Kara’s forehead before softly telling Cat, “I’m going to hang out with Sara, maybe get a tour of the Waverider.”

Hearing soft shuffling behind her, Alex glanced at Sara, who nodded in agreement. “Always happy to give the captain’s tour.” She spoke slightly louder. “Gideon, let us know when Kara wakes up, okay?”

“Of course, Captain.”

“Cat, if you need anything, just let Gideon know. She’ll relay it to me.”

Jade gaze fixed on Kara’s relaxed features, the smaller blonde nodded in response. “Thank you, Sara—for everything.”

With one last glimpse of Cat nestling into Kara’s side, Sara and Alex turned together and left her to the task of tending to their hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! Right down to the wire, but here's another chapter before the end of the year, just like I (kinda sorta) promised! ;-) And, short chapters be damned, because this beast clocks in at 32 pages. Figured it was the least I could do to make up for how long I made you all wait for the last chapter. 
> 
> So this chapter is full of fluff and what some might consider filler. I own that completely. I just wanted to give our heroes some breathing room--let them decompress from what I put them through in the last section and a lot of this section. There's also plenty of angst and several moments that continue moving along the current plot and also set up new plot beats, but there are also lots of scenes full of silliness, snark, strangeness, and sessy. 
> 
> I clearly have favorites from LoT and Flash, so I apologize if I focus too much on them and not a whole lot on others. I didn't want things to get too out of hand, though. Also, I know some of you might not watch these other shows, so introducing a whole gaggle of characters you might not know could be a little overwhelming. However, I have all the time in the world for Mick and Sara and I love Iris more and more each season of The Flash I watch. 
> 
> As for the Waverider, I kind of took writer's liberty a little bit, but I feel like that's in line with the show itself, LOL. I mean this is the show that has the ship able to regenerate a whole new hand for someone but also uses traditional means to cauterize a wound that leaves a scar. Wha? ;-) So I decided to make the inconsistency work in my favor here. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's my New Year's resolution to finish CADMUS Ascending in 2020. I think nearly 4 years is more than enough time to spin a tale like this, don't you? Let's see if the fates allow. If not, that just gives us more time together. I hope life is treating you all kindly and I wish you all the happiest of New Year's Eves. You keep me focused and you have made me so incredibly happy and honored so many times with your comments. Thank you.


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